My life’s fragments waiting for reassembly
These fragments lying on the floor of my studio are some of the stencils I drew and cut to create My Life Unfolds, an accordion book included in the exhibition Open Books, which opened at the National Library of Wales on June 30 and runs until September 22. I used the stencils to make monoprints on each of the 52 folds of the accordion, representing significant episodes in my life. Although the book is finished, the multicoloured stencils remain and demand to be reassembled in new and as yet uncharted scenarios.
One side of the accordion book. Click to see a larger version.
The progress of the book was documented on my blog, and all the panels are shown a dedicated section of my website.
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Born in Paris, raised in South America, USA and Europe, Natalie d’Arbeloff lives in London and has dual nationality, British-American. Her father was Russian, her mother French. Her alter ego is the cartoon character Augustine and her blog is Blaugustine where she sometimes interviews God, among other celebrities. See her website for more about her work as a painter, printmaker, book-artist and cartoonist.
qarrtsiluni 
What a wonderful contribution to this issue!
Beautiful – fragments as jigsaws. Fitting the pieces together.
I’m a known big fan of ‘My Life Unfolds’, but, wow, this collage of the stencils is a beautiful and fascinating work in itself! Something about both the notion and the reality of ‘fragments’, here in this re-assemblling of the stencils, and in so many of the works in this issue, is just incredibly inspiring and resonant.
Thank you all. It’s a joy to be included in the Fragments issue, especially with this piece which accidentally (I more or less threw the stencils on the floor then snapped the photo) came together. It makes me think of the way that chance (another word for Fate?) plays such a big role in our lives, even when we think we are in control.
Hi Natalie: I sure am enjoying your fragments and happy to be introduced to your blog and website. Happy bell-ringing for a whole year to come!