A review of Lynley Edmeades and Saskia Leek’s collaboration Bordering on Miraculous has appeared in Kete. It’s the fourth in the kōrero series, edited by Lloyd Jones, a new edition of which appears every year ‘like a birthday’, according to reviewer Linda Herrick.
‘How soothing to shrug off the grind of domestic life by slipping away into the pages of Bordering On Miraculous, a lovely soft dreamy art-poetry partnership by Saskia Leek and Lynley Edmeades which gently elevates . . . domestic life.
Bordering On Miraculous, number four in the Korero “picture books for adults” series edited by Lloyd Jones, has set a high bar since its launch in 2019 with High Wire, a collaboration between Jones and artist Euan Macleod. The mission statement is worth repeating, to invite “new and exciting collaborations for two different kinds of artistic intelligence to work away at a shared topic.”
Since that debut, once a year, like a birthday, Massey University Press has also published Shining Land: Looking For Robyn Hyde, with writer Paula Morris and photographer Haru Sameshima, and The Lobster’s Tale, by writer Chris Price and photographer Bruce Foster. In each one, the marriage of text and image stirs a rare, deep emotional connection, inviting repeat visits.
The design of each book in the series is also integral to its appeal, thanks to Gary Stewart of The Gas Project. Slightly smaller than an A4 notebook, the books are hardcover, with a linen spine, solid pages stitched together with thread and plenty of air on the pages. They are beautiful to look at and to hold.
Both covers of Bordering On Miraculous broadcast (quietly) the Leek-Edmeades delights within. The front cover painting features a bright yellow ragged-edged orb with a stronger eye at the centre surrounded by blue borders. The back, a clock face set at five past four, features an Edmeades poem which does not accompany the same image inside. The front and back endpapers glow with the colour of sunflowers.’
Read the rest of the interview here.
