Photo Book Works

Bessie Smith Moulton
Falmouth, ME

Tunisia

Tunisia is a montage of drawings, photographs and journal entries illustrating my travels through Tunisia and the Sahara; presenting an uncommon view of its colorful history and people. Like the multicolored pieces that make up the mosaics dotting its landscape, Tunisia itself has a rich and varied composition. Romans, Vandals, Byzantines, Spaniards, Turks, and more recently the French contributed to its unique character, although the Arabs and Phoenicians provided the cornerstones of its national identity. Perched at the top of North Africa, below the Strait of Sicily, crossroads between Europe and Muslim North Africa, Tunisia could not escape being drawn into the turbulent history of the Mediterranean.

Hand-bound into a leather folio opening in the reverse, with a flap to protect it from the dust of the desert, in the tradition of an Arabic book. Printed on Mohawk Superfine paper on an Indigo press. leather, folio style, title gold foil stamped. 56 pages of varying heights and widths to allow images to interact among the pages.  9 x 9 X .5 inches. 2003. Edition of 25.

To purchase, please contact Laura at 23 Sandy Gallery.

Artist Biography

My artist books explore a wide range of themes...many inspired by my travels. In some way they all investigate my main interest in origins: of words, religions, colors, foodways and many other things we often take for granted. Unlike many artists’ books, which have immediate impact on the viewer, my books ask to be read and pondered. They are intended to illuminate and inform but also to invite the reader into a greater mystery.