Inspired by an archive of heartbeats, Sue Rose has paired 14 sonnets on family and love with her own poignant photographs. Heart Archives was motivated by the intense emotional impact Rose (a noted French translator) felt upon encountering Les Archives du Coeur, a vast collection of recorded heartbeats compiled by the leading French artist Christian Boltanski. Some of Rose’s poems specifically reference this installation, while others broaden out into a meditation on family and loss, relationships and legacy.

 

Each poem has a code number for a title, and is accompanied by a photo of something meaningful to Rose, taken with an iPhone, her own archival device; these are hand-taped into the book as a series of loose-leaf photos, to create a unique ‘memento in a book’.  An afterword by the art critic Ben Luke explores the work of Christian Boltanski, while a essay by the poet explains the genesis of her unusual project.

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Published in a limited first edition of 300, signed by the author. 40pp, W125 x H140mm, full colour throughout. First edition signed by the author. ISBN 9780957273818. Published 2014