This was for the Alumni Magazine (SAM) of Suffolk University in Boston.
It was a piece about an American woman and her husband who moved to Australia to start a new life and her experiences of her move and starting afresh in a different continent.
The unusual thing about coming up with ideas for this project was that I was working on it before the text was written so it needed to be quite a general image.
I often wonder how I managed to gather reference for commissions pre-internet.....a stock of books and a trip to the library? Now I so often turn to Google - however for this project I got the opportunity to use a book, that has been quietly waiting to be of use for over 30 years.
The book I used for reference “Furred Animals of Australia” was given to me by an elderly Australian gentleman, Mr. Marshall, in 1977. He’d emigrated to Australia in about 1912 as a small boy and when he returned to our town in Scotland for the first time sixty five years later, he was put in contact with my grandfather as he was the town Provost and an expert on local history. It turned out they had been next-door neighbours and best friends as children prior to Mr Marshall emigrating! They spent a magical week reminiscing and visiting the local area together. And I as an animal obsessed nine year old when I met him quizzed him about the animals of Australia.
My grandfather died a few months after his visit and Mr Marshall treated me as his “adopted” granddaughter sending me books and presents from Australia and letters that talked sometimes of his childhood memories.
This book has always had a special place on my bookshelf and in my heart and I was delighted to be able to use it for this project - so much more rewarding than clicking on Google!
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