MO(NU)MENTARIES

“SELF 1892: RECTO VERSO” (2021)

64-page tabloid newspaper, with colour insert, limited edition of 100

Graphic design by Jon Cannon, photography by Marcus Sarko. ISBN-978-1-913309-07-7

Featuring selected paper foot patterns for bespoke sandals, once designed and handmade by gay, socialist, activist, writer, Edward Carpenter (1844-1929), from Sheffield City Archives and Local Studies Library.

This limited-edition tabloid newspaper features paper foot patterns for bespoke sandals, once designed and handmade by gay, socialist, activist, writer, Edward Carpenter (1844-1929), and his artist and collaborator, George E. Adams. The newspaper recreates the experience of exploring Sheffield City Archives and Local Studies Library, and encountering the artefacts for the first time.  

These ephemeral scraps of paper, seen from both sides, contain signatures, hand written notation, drawings, and instructions, equal to any letter, and represents a record of Carpenter’s customers, such as artist and illustrator Walter Crane, and town planner Raymond Unwin – a prototype of socially-engaged art production.

The title takes the inscription “Self 1892” found on one of the paper foot patterns, pertaining to Carpenter himself, and explores its meaning and intent. A moment of self-actualisation, a year of a sandal’s production, or acknowledging the death of influential American poet, and friend to Carpenter, Walt Whitman (1819-1892)?      

Supported by Sheffield Culture Consortium (Making Ways), Arts Council England, Art Media Design Research Centre (ADMRC) at Sheffield Hallam University, Site Gallery, Freelands Foundation, Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre, and Social Art Publications.