From Margin to Margin (Looking for Eileen) is a 46 page artist book in a folding leperello format, over 7.5 metres long when fully extended. Commissioned by the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection to continue the artist’s research into Eileen Gray and her legacy, the book makes transparent the commissioning process and the struggle to make an appropriate piece of artwork that respects all stakeholders in the project, including the commissioner and Gray herself. The book consists of a series of correspondences that include letters from the artist to Eileen, as well as various attempts to photograph Gray’s villa, E1027 from the sea in front of it (where Le Corbusier drowned); to secure permission to make a film on the site under restoration; and finally an effort to use the commission budget to reinstate Gray’s grave at Pére Lachaise, Paris—which failed, since she is no longer interred there and there is uncertainty about the location of her ashes. The book in its extended format it viewable above: when folded it is in a green slipcase, its dimensions 20cm x 16cm. Images throughout are black and white. The green of the cover and wall above is the restored original green of the guest bedroom in the villa E1027.
With a text by Sarah Browne.
Proceeds from the sale of this book will be used in the service of the memory of Eileen Gray.
ISBN: 978-0-9554976-4-3