A GIRL OF LETTERS

I realised that the obsessions I wrote about yesterday were just materialistic ones! Beautiful things, that are - even if they make me feel happy - merely dead objects. My real and true obsession, my passion above anything else, is the Written Word. Books. All right - so they're also objects. But the moment you turn over that first page they cease to be objects - they become alive!

I've read books for as long as I can remember. I was only five when I learnt to read - two years before I started school (seven in Norway at that time). I used to read a lot more than my class mates - I felt completely empty without a book by my side.

I have a bookcase in every room in my house - except in the bathrooms. I have two bookcases in my house in France, one in my flat in Bulgaria. I know that I will have to get rid of books when I move and downsize next year, but it will be like throwing out my babies! I've started taking books with me when I go to friends' houses and giving them away - better to do it slowly, but surely. I know I own books that I will never read again, so I might as well start facing their disappearance!

I love the sight of letters - it's as simple as that. The sight of letters soothes me. This is a scarf (yes, I know...) that I bought last year, and when I laid my eyes on it I could actually hear it pleading with me - "Buy me, please, BUY ME!" Tying a bunch of letters round my neck clears my head. Or hanging letters - even if they are Cyrrilic - from my ears:

Earrings handmade from a Bulgarian Red Bull can

This was one of the works of art we saw in the Astrup Fearnley Museum on Sunday, which I wrote about in my blogpost that day. Seeing text used in art appeals immensely to me, and my blogpost about my Audrey painting illustrates that. I love collages that incorporate words and sentences.

Painting on my wall in France by Sophie Caillet Perier

Of course my passion with words and letters were fully expressed when I did my Food Poetry and my Cut-out Stunt Poetry. Oh, the joy of playing with words every day! What a delight! I'm sure I haven't done this for the last time. 

Anyway - I'm blogging now. This is also a way of playing with words.