Banner artwork for the "16 Degrees" exhibition at Teesside University in Middlesbrough:
I wanted to make something authentic and being made by human hands so that you could clearly see how much effort the person who made it put into it. Everything were supposed to be hand made and coming from my mind after having read the book and making my own interpretations of it. In order to make something like this, I figured making an artist book would fit this description, as it would be one of a kind, a single piece of work that could not be copied.
The book being sewed by hand is sort of hinting a reference to Holden’s dead brother’s baseball glove, especially the stitches on the cover. The cover sees Holden smoking a cigarette, wearing his red hunting hat that is a symbol of his protection against the adult world. It is also the same colour as his dead brother’s hair and is a symbol of his death and Holden’s survivor’s guilt. The baseball glove and his hunting hat are his sacred objects that reminds him of the past and is helping him confront the present.
Holden is leaving prep school for being kicked out and is trying to feel some sort of goodbye before leaving it, watching the football game from a distance instead of actually being there, again isolating himself. He feels like he has to know that he’s leaving a place or else he would feel even worse than he already does.
Colours are being used psychologically compared to what Holden is feeling. He is failing all his classes, except for English, and he feels like a failure, like he does not belong. He goes home to his teacher to say goodbye, even though he knows he's going to get a boring lecture out of it, hence the green colour on his door.
His teacher is giving him a lecture of how life is a game you have to play according to the rules. Holden’s thoughts are in red, showing that he’s disagreeing to what he says.
The red words are to show Holden's aggression. He hates "phonies" and the word grand. The words grand is formed like a staircase to hint that Holden is walking out of the house.
Holden feels pressured about having to grow up, and does not like it when people yell “good luck” at him, it makes him sad.
Holden likes to read books and when the book is good he has mixed emotions, as he wishes he knew the author so that he could call him up whenever he felt like it.
Warm colours to show his comfortableness, and a hint of blue to show his loneliness and isolation.
Holden gets beaten up by his roommate, Stradlater, for making a composition about his dead brother’s baseball glove. Holden tears it apart after Stradlater tells him it’s stupid and attacks him, but he ends up losing the fight. He puts on his red hunting hat afterwards as a symbol of his protection and is so sick of people he decides to leave the school earlier than planned.
This is showing his journey in New York and the colours indicates his different emotions that he is going through on his adventure.
Holden is trying to find a record so he can give it to his sister, Phoebe. He hears a young boy singing a song about what he thinks is “if a body catch a body comin' thro' the rye” and it makes him feel less sad.
Holden is very concerned about the ducks in the winter and where they go. He tries to go look for them but only manages to break the record in the process.
After hearing the song about catching bodies in the rye, all he can think of is being a catcher in the rye. Where he would stand at the end of a field and catch kids when they fall off. That’s the only thing he would really like to be.
In the end he gives his hunting hat to his sister, Phoebe, as he feels like he has to protect her against the adult world. The only thing that makes him feel some sort of happiness is being with her. He watches her going around on the carousel while he is crying in the rain.
After telling the story about what happened to him, it makes him regret telling it as he started to miss all the people he was talking about. So he gives advice not to tell anyone anything, as you will start to miss everybody.
