‘The River City’ by Helen Malone

This artist’s book by Brisbane artist Helen Malone was a response to the Brisbane flood of January 2011.   A concertina book, it opens to 180cm when fully extended. 

Five concertinas containing manipulated digital photographs are sewn together at the peaks and valleys to make a sinuous form as brown as the river in flood. 

These photographs were taken in the Yeronga/Fairfield area. 

In the aftermath, the artist states,

the overwhelming impression was of thick, sticky mud and piles of muddy debris which had been people's possessions.  

The River City was produced in a limited edition of 3 and is one of nearly a dozen artist’s books by Brisbane artist Helen Malone in State Library’s Artists’ Books Collection. 

It will be on display in the Australian Library of Art Showcase on level 4 of the library from 24 February to 27 August 2023. Curator's Tours of the display run monthly. 

Related Links 

• Catalogue record The River City: eyewitness document.  
• Helen Malone's website about The River City
• Other artists books by Helen Malone.
• Other concertina books in State Library of Queensland’s Artists’ Books Collection. 
• The Australian Library of Art. 
• State Library's Artists’ Books Collection