Edinburgh’s Mysterious Paper Sculptures

According to scotsman.com, “an anonymous artist has covertly delivered ten paper sculptures to Scottish cultural institutions since March 2011.”

The sculptures themselves are wonderful, and the mystery of their appearances is integral to their appeal.

The first gift to arrive came to the Scottish Poetry Library…

a tiny paper tree complete with nesting birds, which seemed to be growing from a book. 
Beside it sat an eggshell lined with gold-leaf, and a string of paper bunting made from the words of Edwin Morgan’s poem, A Trace of Wings. It appeared as if from nowhere, and like all the best gifts, was accompanied by a gift tag which did not explain, but added to the mystery of its coming:

It started with your name @ByLeavesWeLive and became a tree… We know that a library is so much more than a building full of books…a book is so much more than pages full of words…This is for you, in support of Libraries, books, words and ideas…

The Poetree was the first of ten anonymously gifted sculptures, all intricately crafted from books, and covertly left throughout 2011 at arts and cultural institutions around Edinburgh.

Watch the video, read the article, and wonder who and how, but never why. If you love books, you know why. More pictures of these fabulous objects at thisiscentralstation.com.

Comments

  1. Deborah Lacy

    I love this. So fun!

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