"Grains of Wisdom": Picturing Proverbs

As promised, more on how the inspiration of making "Grains of Wisdom" came about. Over the years I read bits and pieces of the biblical book of Proverbs many times, and each time another proverb would catch my eye, create in me a curiosity to ponder its message deeper. For example, "The heart of a wise person seeks knowledge, but the mouth of a fool grazes on nonsense." (15:14). When I first read it and started imagining it, I saw someone sitting under a tree, reading a book (seeking knowledge), and someone else rummaging through a rubbish bin (grazing on nonsense). The illustration in "Grains of Wisdom" is just that, and my illustrator friend Hajdi Adamovic translated it onto paper so beautifully. However the interesting thing was that a friend told me how he had been sharing "Grains" with his children and was mulling over the proverbs himself, and when it came to this one, he wondered which of the two was grazing on nonsense. I chuckled, as the fact that he is an academic made it all the more funny.  Later I thought about how our perceptions can be flipped, changed, and how they depend on our definitions of things. Of course the illustration is not the only way to portray the meaning of the proverb, but here's a question I leave you with: if you were the illustrator, what would you draw for this proverb? 

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"Grain of Wisdom": Bringing It to Life

It always starts with an idea, a fine thread that seems to appear uninvited yet utterly welcome. The first of a host of threads that begin to form distinct shapes that eventually become a concrete object or product of some sort, that can be touched, felt, and engaged with. The idea for "Grains of Wisdom" came to me many years ago so I am particularly pleased to see it come to life this year. The making of this book was a fine example of how the talents and skills of individuals come together to create something beautiful because no one person has it all.

I had the idea, but I needed someone who could the draw the characters in my mind (Hajdi Adamovic), someone who would know how to put the brush strokes in the right places in the right shades of colour (Berta Jimenez Martinez), someone who could capture the essence of the text and make it meaningful even for the youngest among us (Lily Kahn). And they did. 

But that is only part of the story. To bring you the book in its final form as it sits on my shelf (and perhaps yours), I needed people from UCL's creative media services team like Mary Hinkley who carefully photographed them with her Hasselblad camera, and Alejandro Lopez who did the post-production of the photographs, ensuring they look as good as the originals. Many small, intricate steps are needed to bring a project to life, and many such steps were taken to bring you "Grains of Wisdom". But as with any creative endeavour, it was a pleasure to make and see those threads come together. That's all for now; more about the inspiration of the proverbs another time.