Wednesday, April 17, 2013

The Strange Poetry of Lilli Carré


Lilli Carré although only just 30 years or so old, has accomplished and produced so much already. I was first introduced to her work when stumbling upon ‘Nine Ways to Dissappear’, a beautiful and compact book published by Little Otsu that tells nine short stories in words and pictures. First drawn to the book for it’s sheer beauty and design I kept reading for the bizarreness and melancholy of the stories. They almost feel as though Carré is just making them up as she writes and draws them out. As if there was no plan, no definite set purpose to them, but that this in a way seems to be the point of them at the same time. A combination of poetry and dream seems to cloak her characters and their worlds. While I think that Carré’s illustration work is beautiful in it’s own right, I believe that the format of the book, her ‘animated drawings’ or animation is where Carré’s work is truly at home. As long as there is more than one page for Carré to work with, to show us the continuation of something she is able to bring a strange kind of poetry to life that is truly unique.



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I wrote this article for the great illustration magazine Linea Curve. I will be writing some articles for them every so often and these articles will be cross posted on their blog as well as on I Heart Picture Books. Images chosen to accompany articles may vary.
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All Images © Lilli Carré