Tissue Box: A Pandemic Response/Boîte à mouchoir : Une réponse à la pandémie

In Spring 2020, as the world was going into lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Quebec Collagiste Virginie Maltais felt a deep need for a point of reference. Her solution was a project that asked collage artists from around the world to make a collage using the top of a tissue box. Selections from the project are published in the book, Tissue Box: A pandemic response/Boite à mouchoir: Une réponse à la pandémie.

"The tissue box is always nearby when you have a cold or flu. COVID was compared to a flu at first. We now know that it is something else entirely. The tissue box is also there when you cry, whether because you lost your job, lost someone close to you, lost a project. There were many reasons to cry at that time for many of us!" wrote Maltais. "I also realized that the top of the tissue box could make a frame and that there were several ways to highlight this property through collage and that collagists could take advantage of it to remind us of our situation."

"Small projects are important. When you start and manage to finish something, you regain your courage and hope. But, really, there is no such thing as a small project. Big projects are made of many small steps. Step by step, we move forward. Together. It was all of these small steps, together, that led to the creation of this book."

Maltais worked with Kolaj Institute and Kasini House to produce a bilingual book about the project.

DETAILS: 56 pages | 11.5"x8" | perfect-bound | 2021 | ISBN 978-1-927587-58-4 | Published by Kasini House

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