Inès Di Folco creates a sleeve for Sula by Toni Morrison.
This month we have sent you all a very special Sendb00ks package that is currently in the post on the way to you all around the world. There is an additional sleeve attached to the book designed especially by Inès Di Folco in response to a specific scene in the text. On the sleeve is a short blurb and a poem that she also wrote exclusively for the package detailing her personal emotional connection to the story. The goal is to blur the lines between the artist and the author and hopefully help inspire you all in your creative responses to the text and the art, all of which we would love to see. Incase you missed your chance to get a package this month we have included a little slither of the accompanying essay below for you to read. The full essay will be available to download on our website very soon, donations for this would be appreciated. We love you!
As this tumultuous year draws to a close and we finally breathe a sigh of relief at the promising election results this month, it’s not surprising that we are thinking more and more about our communities and how they affect our families. While this year has been full of the most unexpected challenges for us all, it has been a chance for everyone, from all walks of life, to consider the emotions and experiences of strangers much like a family, dysfunctional though it may be. Although it may seem we have very little in common with many people we encounter, this consideration requires us to act in the protection not just of ourselves but of them too. While the other prevailing theme of this year has been an acute awareness of the pressure of isolation, the bigger picture demands that we take steps to feel closer to each other than ever. This month we are going to be sending Sula by Toni Morrison, accompanied by a painting and a poem created in direct response to the text by the artist Inès Di Folco. Both of these multifaceted artists share a gift in being able to explore their roots and their femininity with such vulnerability, while making peace with their ordeals and experiments of becoming. We would like to take a moment to celebrate Joe Biden and in particular Kamala Harris on her appointment as the first Black and South Asian American Vice President, whose election strengthens this month's focus on the necessity of community focused healing.
To read the rest of the essay, check your email inboxes in the coming days <3
Inès Di Folco at her studio in Menilmontant photographed by Gemma in October 2020.
The sleeve.