Lisa LaLonde

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This book came out of a desire to dig deeper into a relationship with my Grandmother, who had been communicating with me by letters. I tried sending her letters asking her to talk about various photos of me as a little girl. But a dialogue never happened. Her letters continued on much the same as always, and she never was able to answer any of the questions I asked her on paper.

So I took to looking at the letters themselves. They were her words, her voice, and I could not force her to be anything other than who she was. I had no choice but to read the letters as they were written, and not add any other dimensions of meaning. In effect, it was a one-sided conversation, and I had to listen.

But I could play with the images. The image of me being pushed on a swing by my father, kept working on me. So I played with it. The end result is that when you spread the pages of the book in the giant accordion fold of this book, and then step back, you actually get the sensation of the little girl going back and forth on the swing. Every other image is smaller, larger, smaller, larger to give this illusion. So the image that I was trying to have come alive with her words...comes alive in a whole other fashion.

When I displayed this book in the galleries of the Rochester Institute of Technology for my Thesis show in 1990, I was surprised at how many responses I got to this book (I had about 20 books and many prints on display) So many people said, “Those were MY grandmother’s letters, too!” Somehow we were all reading what a generation was trying to say to us: “My arthritis is acting up when I write so much.” “Come see me sometime.” “I hope you are okay, I never hear from you.” and my favorite: “Call me collect sometime.”

When I showed my Grandma the finished product a few years after completing it, she just laughed. "Did I really write those?" she said. Then she told me stories I had already heard before, but this time I listened to what she was saying, not what I wanted her to say.

The Grandma Book

© 1990 Lisa Bowes LaLonde

Printed by Lisa LaLonde on an AB Dick offset press

Includes color photocopies. All hand-assembled.

At the Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY 1990

Hand assembled: glue and photo corners

Multiple edition: 35

Price: $55 (includes shipping)*

*Orders from outside US, please Contact Lisa
Please allow 10-14 days for delivery