FRUMA MARKOWITZ
artist / photographer
Books
Doors Into Morocco
A one-of-a-kind, accordion format artist hand-made book
“Doors into Morocco” was born out of my recent exploration of new materials that I’d like to incorporate into my photographic practice. Having already pivoted in the past few years away from classic, representational image-making towards working mostly with alternative, historical, or experimental processes, I’ve embarked on a new adventure with collage, textiles, stitchwork, and even acrylic paint. And, with hand-made one-of-a-kind artist books, of which this one is my first.
I chose a set of photographs of doors and some vistas of the Atlas Mountains that I took on a long-awaited “bucket-list” trip to Morocco in 2020. The doors comprise the colorful interior plates of the book, representative of the vibrant rainbow hues everywhere one looks in more populated urban areas of the country. The landscapes reflect on the majesty and unspoiled calm of the rural places I visited and are the exterior support that holds the book together. Hence the book juxtaposes and confounds these two experiences, the exteriors of closed and off-limits interiors – the doors, and the interior peace instilled by what is outside in nature – the mountains. This little treasure of a book allows me to hold in my hands all the excitement, magic, and mystery of my time there.
COVERS
Original photographs artist printed on silk organza overlaying supportive substrate with monochrome image, attached with gold thread stitching and embellished with charm; Closure is organza ribbon adhered to back cover and embellished with stitching and beads.
BACK SUPPORT
Medium weight interfacing substrate backing support prepared with a series of 7 individual bi-fold signatures attached together, using 3 rows of gold thread stitching over artist digitally printed monotone photographs enhanced with embossed imprints on lightweight molding paste, prepared with metallic digital grounds and outlined on edges with gold leaf ink
INDIVIDUAL BOOK PAGE IMAGES
Artist-printed digital color photographic blends on 4.75”w X 6.5”H blocks of cotton interfacing, stitched with gold thread and edges, outlined with gold leaf ink, fused onto background support in pairs on each signature (4.75”h x 9.5”w)