An Exhibition of Artists’ books (Sculptural Works)

This land is your land, this land is my land

Since its conception, the artist’s book has gone through many metamorphoses, allowing artists to widen their presence to places and people outside of the gallery. Contemporary artists’ books range from fine craft letterpress works to one-of-a-kind or limited-edition art objects, to political-based zines and comics.

The Artists’ Books Collection held in the Australian Library of Art, is the largest publicly available collection of artists' books in Australia, and is recognised as one of the best in the country.

A Roman Alphabet, Helen Malone, 1993

The State Library has more than 1500 artists’ books in the collection and throughout June and July, you will be able to feast your eyes on a delicious selection of sculptural works and a selection of zines, by a variety of Australian and overseas artists. These works will be on display in the ALA Showcase, situated on level 4 of the library.

Little Red Riding Hood

All artists’ books in the collection are catalogued on Onesearch and may be found there by searching “artists books”. (artists’ books & books about artists’ books) or “ALAAB” (locates artists’ books) Where copyright permissions can be obtained we are gradually fully digitising works from the Artists’ Books Collection.

Featured artists:

Sarah Bowen; Darren Bryant; Liz Deckers; Rebekah Evans; Louise Irving; Joanna Kambourian; Tim Mosely

Margo Douglas, Jan Hogan, Kurt Schranzer, Karen Papacek, Helen Malone, Sherrie Knipe, Wim de Vos, Helen Sanderson and Guiseppe Romeo

Book Artists on regular display in the ALA Showcase

Bernard Appassamy, Helen Sanderson, Klaus Zimmer, Adele Outteridge, Peter Rosman, Alex Selenitsch, Ronald King, University of Southern Queensland, Tafadzwa Gwetai, Arthur Azevedo, Annette Seeman, Stewart Scambler and Wim de Vos.

You can sign up for a Library membership for immediate access to State Library's collections and services and enjoy a digital experience from home. Browse all digitised artists' books

Janette Garrad, Senior Technician, Published Content, State Library of Queensland.