Olivia Arthur was invited to create a photographic work inspired by the rich and varied collection of books at the Librairie 7L. Fascinated by children’s stories, she set out to bring that sense of imagination to life using the physical books themselves. Within the library’s towering stacks—walls of art, fashion, photography, and history—she constructed imaginary landscapes made from pages, corners, and covers, turning them into mountains, fields, and windows.

Using a wooden box camera, paper negatives, and a mobile darkroom, Arthur photographed these bookscapes and layered them with images found in the books around her. Back in her studio, she contact-printed the negatives and hand-colored them with pigmented inks, transforming each image into a small, dreamlike story.

The title, "A Pocket of Their Own Shape", is drawn from "I Walked Out of 2 and Forgot It" by Toby MacLennan, a surreal book that plays with time and space in a way that resonates deeply with a child’s logic. Arthur’s work seeks to recapture this sense of wonder and imaginative freedom, often lost in adulthood, and reawaken it within the pages and spaces of the library.

Echoing the sculptural approach to the subject, Olivia Arthur weaves a narrative that unfolds in the form of a leporello.