Everything Is Made Out Of Magic Art Print

This art print is part of my Cultural Memory Series. The series explores the intersection of word and image and the amalgamation of personal and collective stories that become the cultural narratives that shape our selfhood and belonging. By embedding iconic text with original artwork, the project challenges the boundaries between public heritage and private memory, and functions as a cultural critique to how shared memories are controlled by legal authorities and borders.

The extracted text is from Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden (1911), which is in the public domain worldwide. As my favourite nature themed children’s book, I’ve wanted to make a secret garden illustration for a while. But it seemed that to achieve that secret feel, I had to keep the garden hidden. So, this illustration shows the garden door and surrounding it is the magic of nature (which includes us, the viewer). Through the repetitious action of hand-lettering, the process of artistic creation becomes an act of sacred ritual, a reclamation of both my personal voice and my bond with the text’s original author.

By making the print available for purchase, the artwork further functions as a piece of economic activism, challenging capitalism and its institutionalised “hierarchy of value.”