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| Photo by Robert Burdock , who also has an amusing Twitter feed |
A real life mystery worthy of the most intricate plots has been slowly playing out in Edinburgh. If you’ve been lucky enough to visit the Edinburgh Book Festival this year, you may have spotted an intricate paper sculpture or two which have appeared overnight, left by an anonymous source (see picture).
The intricate sculptures, each crafted from an individual book, show a figure dwarfed by trees which was titled Lost (albeit in a good book) which was crafted from a copy of James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner and a rather lovely tea tray featuring a cupcake and cup with the message ‘this cup is awarded to @edbookfest’ (the Twitter name of the festival).
These sculptures are just the latest gifts from the anonymous donor, who has left several sculptures around the city this summer. The early sculptures seemed to be a collection which celebrated Ian Rankin’s popular Rebus series (which are based in Edinburgh) and were left in places of literary note around the city. The Scottish Storytelling Centre now displays a sculpture of a hatching dragon’s egg which they discovered on their premises, the Filmhouse received a miniature cinema complete with charging horses coming out of the screen, the Scottish Poetry Library was gifted a witty ‘Poetree’ and the National Library of Scotland have been the recipients of a delicate gramophone and coffin protruding from a copy of Rankin’s Exit Music. All of the sculptures so far have included a note which states that the sculptures have been created and given to the specific institutions:
‘In support of libraries, books, words, ideas…’.
All of the tags are handwritten and seem to be in the same handwriting, suggesting that all the sculptures have been created by the same person.
The creator of these mini masterpieces is yet to come forward, despite heavy media coverage. So what are the clues we do have?
- Well, the Edinburgh Book sculptor obviously has links to the city,
- is a fan of the arts and culture scene,
- understands the link between Edinburgh and certain pieces of literature
- and is, more than likely, an Ian Rankin fan.
Rankin himself has denied any responsibility for the sculptures, which goes someway to rule out a novel marketing campaign (pun not intended).
A quick Google search for 'book sculptures' and 'Scotland' brought up a litany of names, including Su Blackwell (who has a rather funky site displaying her gorgeous works which you can visit here) Georgia Russell , and many more outside of Scotland including the American, Brian Dettmer, which just goes to show the popularity of the medium. Whilst the list of worldwide professional artist’s names continues to grow, there is no evidence to discount a previously unknown amateur as being responsible for the sculptures.
Whilst the odds are on a British/Scottish artist being revealed as the mystery sculptor, there is still no solid proof about their identity until the sculptor chooses to reveal themselves. I think in this case, I’m quite happy for the mystery to remain unsolved. What is important, is remembering the gesture behind the gifts. As their accompanying note cards say, they were made in respect of literature, libraries, ideas and culture: a sentiment that I heartily agree with. Looking at the beautiful paper marvels themselves, it almost doesn’t matter who made them, just that they were made at all.
If you’d like to see all the mystery sculptures in their full glory, click the link below: http://community.thisiscentralstation.com/_Mysterious-paper-sculptures/blog/4991767/126249.html
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