Isabel Carvalho, Clara Batalha
Artist Book
Title: The Ovaries of the Poppies
Authors: Isabel Carvalho, Clara Batalha
Date: 2024
Design: Macedo Cannatà
Texts and drawings: Isabel Carvalho and Clara Batalha
Essay: Vanessa Badagliacca
Translations: (from the portuguese) Martin Dale, (from the english) Kennis Translations
Proofreading: Susana Camanho
Format: 10 x 14,5 cm
Pages: 112
Language: Portuguese and english
Printing: Offset on “bible paper”
Print run: 200 copies
ISBN: 978-989-35211-7-5
Photographs: Álvaro Martinho
The book The Ovaries of Poppies, by Isabel Carvalho and Clara Batalha, is an extension of the exhibition held in 2018 at Sismógrafo.
In both the exhibition and the book, similarities and points of convergence between human and plant bodies are explored, with the aim of demonstrating the harmonious process of interdependence between the two. At the same time, through texts and illustrations, the artists reveal the unease they feel at the disappearance of poppies (which are known to be finite) and the most likely cause of their disappearance: the spraying of fields with toxic chemicals that cause the flowers’ reproductive organs to become diseased and subsequently sterile.
Taking the flower, therefore, as a generic form representative of nature and, to a certain extent, of the female body, the Macedo Cannatà studio has designed a small-scale artist’s book, entirely folded into leaves which, when fully unfolded, transform the pages into petals and are arranged around an almost invisible axis, the spine held together with just a thread of glue. The entire book blends drawings and texts, thanks to the semi-transparency of the ‘bible’ paper, weighing just 40 grams, which encourages an intimate and delicate approach to reading and handling the book.
Following the award of a Special Mention in the DGLAB Book Design Award 2025, the book The Ovaries of Poppies won the Bronze Medal in 2026 at the international competition Best Book Design from all over the World, organised by the German foundation Stiftung Buchkunst. Regarding the book, the jury of the renowned award wrote:
“The Ovaries of Poppies is a delicate and modest book that commands attention precisely through its small scale and apparent fragility. (…) It invites readers to handle it as one would a flower. This material sensitivity enhances rather than limits the reading experience. A highly accomplished typographic layout, precisely attuned to the format, fosters an intimate and remarkably clear encounter with the content. A simple, poetic and exemplary design – delicate, bold and lucid at once.”
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