Olivia Arthur

Turning to photography, I began illustrating the words of this story. But I soon found that the directness of photographs was not leaving the space I needed for a child’s imagination. And yet I didn’t want to lose this directness that photography offers either. And so, for the first time in my work I turned to collage and began layering little parts of reality together to create a space that we can get lost in along with a story we can touch. It took me seven years to finish, and the result is Lee and the Sea Things: 

Lee is a child who wants to know everything. She relentlessly questions the world around her: the sea, the flowers, and the silence of adults who are too busy. It is from a panther that she will find the answer to THE question – the one that is kept silent, and which can only be approached through the twists and turns of the story: the story of her missing mother, carried off by the Sea Creatures. Lee goes to meet them and realises that they are not as scary if you go to them openly.” – Olivia Arthur