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The Epic City by Kushanava Choudhury.
I feel like I'm transported to another world. The writing is beautiful and very funny at times.
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Apr 27, 2024
Feb 6, 2024
Nilesh Mistry worked on a pair of books for DK in the 90's called 'The Illustrated Book of Myths and Legends; Tales and Legends of the World' and 'The Illustrated Book of Fairytales.'
I grew up with the Mythology one and it has had an immense impact on me, and for very good reason (beyond mythology being really fucking cool)!
Mistry's illustration work here is impressively unified given the broad range of cultures Mistry had to work from. Mistry was working in a time where gathering a wide range of visual references was a much more laborious task than it is today, and the numerous details he did include speak volumes to the effort that was made (however often faulty by today's higher standards, and there are some notable mistakes to not be overlooked).
Mistry's work stands out for another reason though, one more universally interesting than overcoming the innate challenge of illustrating an educational anthology book:
The illustration work here is incredibly inventive compositionally!!
Events from multiple points in a story are depicted flowing into eachother between and around the text of the story. Where film utilizes cuts, and comics use panels to progress time, Mistry uses form and light to seemlessly blend one moment into the next. The effect is astounding, the narrative arc of each story, it's pacing and atmosphere, are directly replicated in the illustrations themselves.
A creation story quickly unfurls and settles into a vast expanse. A story about 2 shape-shifters in a chase flies across the page like a skipping stone. A tragedy is isolated into each moment that could've prevented it, a kind of trail of missteps.
They all feel wonderfully fluid and alive, all while dynamically reflecting the stories' own unique qualities!
In short, you should check these out, especially if you like me (and I guess David Lynch lol) wish your paintings could sometimes move in time too. โโขยฐโงโช๏ธโ
Jan 27, 2025
Top Recs from @nafisa
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Before Substack, before PI.FYI, came this woman's blog. I have been following her monthly newsletters for several years now and she's always got such interesting recommendations. I always stumble upon interesting books, art, music, videos, people, blurbs on the cities she's visiting, etc. Still don't know who she is and I love that she's totally okay with being anonymous. Whoever you are Little Aesthete, I admire your taste.
Jan 28, 2024