An anonymous artist has been leaving delicate paper sculptures made from old books at locations in Edinburgh and around Scotland for more than three years.
The identity of the woman has remained secret despite the international attention that the book sculptures have received.
This is what she said in an interview that a BBC Scotland's arts correspondent Pauline McLean conducted - via email to maintain her anonymity.
Question: Why remain anonymous?
Answer: Why would you focus on one ordinary individual? Libraries, galleries, museums etc are a better focus and a lot less ordinary.
Question: Has it been hard to keep your identity secret?
Answer: No, it's not been hard to keep the secret. Those that know me are like-minded.
Question: Why did you start making the sculptures?
Answer: The first book sculpture, a little tree for The Scottish Poetry Library, was made primarily as a response to library closures and cutbacks.
But it was also as a bit of fun for the library staff who, throughout Scotland, the UK and much further afield, provide a service in straitened times - above and beyond.
It was a poor attempt to illustrate the notion that a book is more than just a book - and a library is a special kind of building.
It's no secret that I would like everyone to have access to books, art, artefacts and the buildings that house them. Not just those with the money for a ticket.
I think it's true that the immediate way we can and do now access information has altered things.
But it remains important to have expert help, to see things for real, to have buildings set aside that inspire and make expectations of us and that anyone can enter.
The identity of the woman has remained secret despite the international attention that the book sculptures have received.
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| photo credit: Delphine Dallison |
Question: Why remain anonymous?
Answer: Why would you focus on one ordinary individual? Libraries, galleries, museums etc are a better focus and a lot less ordinary.
Question: Has it been hard to keep your identity secret?
Answer: No, it's not been hard to keep the secret. Those that know me are like-minded.
Question: Why did you start making the sculptures?
Answer: The first book sculpture, a little tree for The Scottish Poetry Library, was made primarily as a response to library closures and cutbacks.
But it was also as a bit of fun for the library staff who, throughout Scotland, the UK and much further afield, provide a service in straitened times - above and beyond.
It was a poor attempt to illustrate the notion that a book is more than just a book - and a library is a special kind of building.
It's no secret that I would like everyone to have access to books, art, artefacts and the buildings that house them. Not just those with the money for a ticket.
I think it's true that the immediate way we can and do now access information has altered things.
But it remains important to have expert help, to see things for real, to have buildings set aside that inspire and make expectations of us and that anyone can enter.
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