The Gubu Dolls Saga contains a novella set in the Gubu Dolls universe and a section explaining the concept behind the Gubu Dolls art project, which is on permanent public display at GalleryX, 11 Hume Street, Dublin 2. It is handwritten by the Gubu Man himself and illustrated throughout with drawings and photos, in a practical facsimile paperback edition.
The Gubu Dolls art project is a novel using physical objects instead of words. It is about 20 square meters and contains around 600 dolls in jars, arranged in a progression of 60 diorama type sections, forming a readable story. The plot concerns The Narrator, a fictional character, instructed to build a shrine in memory of his people. Being a novel, the Saga is constructed using literary ideas and a ‘character art’, in which the artist gets into the character of The Narrator, using the materials and ideas available to him, given the fictional time and place.
Gubu Man, anonymous artist, was a writer and playwright for 20 years, until a rare and severe L.E.D light sensitivity struck him at the age of 39, preventing him from using all types of screens, computers and smartphones. Exiled from the digital world and isolated in his own space, everything from walking down the streets of Dublin facing lights from cars and stores, to keeping in touch with friends, became a daily struggle. The worst blow of them all was the inability to write, but creation found its way.
'I became driven by a tactile need to create with my hands. While The Gubu Saga is not specifically about my story, I did, as an actor would, pour my own experience into the object I was making, while in character.'
(Words by Gubu Man)
Published by Adverbage Ltd. and GalleryX
Softcover
164 pages
156 x 234 mm
ISBN 9780954172343
