| Title | Cocoon |
| Artist / Creator | Mary Jeanne Linford |
| Press Name | Bad Girl Press |
| Place of Publication | Bainbridge Island, Washington |
| Publication Date | 2016 |
| Process / Technique | Inkjet printing, hand decorated papers |
| Structure / Binding | Drum Leaf binding, popup book |
| Medium / Materials | Stamp pad ink, stencils, pencil drawings |
| Paper Stock | Fabriano Artistico Traditional White hot pressed watercolor papers, Canson Mi Tientes colored paper |
| Number of Pages | 7 spreads |
| Dimensions (WxHxD) | 7 x 7.5 x 1 inches closed. |
| Edition Size | Edition of 3 |
| Signed & Numbered | Signed and numbered edition |
As a woman, I am very interested in issues that affect women in our society. When the issue of abuse came much too close to home, I began to see first-hand how women who are abused can stay in the situation and not try to leave. I also saw how emotional abuse takes self-confidence and feelings of self-worth and destroys them. I saw a strong, confident, bright young woman become a withdrawn, shuttered person who doubted every decision she made, and blamed herself for her situation. As I helped her make the choice to leave and provided support to help her get back on her feet, I began to understand much more about the needs of the women who suffer from physical and emotional abuse. This book addresses the topic from a personal standpoint. This is not a light-hearted, playful popup book. Written in first person, it reflects the indecision and uncertainty that most abused women feel. The ambiguous end leaves the viewer to decide if the woman leaves the situation or becomes a fatal victim.
Artist Bio
Mary Jeanne (MJ) Linford's first book was a class assignment in layout and design in high school art class. She had no idea at that time that she would get badly bitten by the book arts bug and never recover. She focuses on printmaking and bookmaking under the press name of Bad Girl Press. MJ enjoys the mystery and unpredictable nature of printmaking, and the controlled, precise aspects of bookmaking. Although she continues to make 'serious' books, she has become increasingly intrigued by popups and moveable structures, and has amassed an embarrassingly large reference collection of popup books. MJ has been a practicing professional artist for over 40 years, and feels like she is still learning how to make art. Now that she's turned 65 (!), MJ is less interested in following rules, and more interested in following her muse. As MJ continue to explore paper engineering, she does wish she had paid much better attention in both math and science classes.