Banoo Batliboi
Pacific Patterns abstract photos of book sculptures 18.5 x 14.5 inches
Banoo Batliboi is a self-taught paper artist who creates "book art" with old, abandoned books. By shifting the focus from their conventional form as a vehicle for narrative ideas- as a primary medium for the communication and creation of history- to the tactile and visual qualities of the book, she imagines an alternative life for each volume.
Banoo makes paper behave in surprising ways. The pages of an old atlas restructure themselves into a new topography. Metallic paper creates patterns with an unusual look and feel. She further abstracts her book sculptures through her art photographs allowing the viewer to see paper in new and astonishing ways, and engages in questions of narrative authority- who has the authority to write our histories and whose history are we being taught?
The Plush Series of book sculptures are special because they have been fashioned from vintage books that exemplify the best of the traditional bookbinder's craft. These books have been reconfigured by the artist through a process of precision folding to transform them into something new.
Her recent participations include Making History, Colombo Biennale, 2013; Reading Room, Blueprint12, New Delhi 2014; Reading Room, TARQ, Mumbai 2014; Reading Room at Kochi Muziris Biennale, 2014/15 and India Art Fair 2016, with Blueprint12. courtesy of blueprint12.com