Baba Yaga
Baba Yaga explores character through book form. Described simultaneously as both a flesh-hungering hag and Mother Earth; Baba Yaga exists in slavic folklore as a paradoxical ancient witch. Attempting to explore the duality of her character, this book depicts her through incorporeal, mystical presences in the forest.
This double sided 80-page concertina photobook takes the reader on a journey through Baba Yaga and her impenetrable forest realm in which she resides. As the reader progresses, the book becomes more difficult to read in its materiality and content. Both sides become darker and more complex as the paper type changes and deteriorates in the hands of the reader.
The images are my own photographic impressions of her presence, and the text is an amalgamation of her depiction in authentic slavic folktales and modern literary discourse.
I also created a box for the book to sit in, made from samples of bark and lichen that I had collected as research.
Materials: Card, sugar paper, recycled paper, cartridge paper, tissue paper, bark and lichen.
Watch: a read-through of Baba Yaga below.
Watch: a page-by-page split screen video showing the both sides of the book and their forms as full sequences.