garden on my cheek

Ever since John Berger first saw Liane Birnberg's artwork in her studio many years ago, they have been connected in a friendship of high productivity for Liane. He says that her artwork has "eyes" and continuously sends her his new books, which function as catapults for her work. Language plays a significant role in Liane Birnberg's images, but it is only recognizable through pure graphics. The words are embedded in micro-glass beads; they become distorted, and other lines and forms engulf everything. The text and the image merge, though neither belongs to the other. garden on my cheek is the third book by John Berger and Liane Birnberg, which includes an essay by Jürgen Wellbrock as its foreword.

With illustrations in color by Liane Birmberg.

The book will be released by PalmArtPress in celebration of John Berger's ninetieth birthday.

Excerpt

Let the drawing stand up
And every dot
Yield a line
As the field that was sown
Is raised by its crop
And my nipple by the slow-growing tree.

Let the drawing stand up
And make of my legs
The legs of the table
On which this land is
Laid out like a towel
And placed like a bowel
Awaiting its water.

Let the drawing stand up
And its weight bear down
Till every line is opened
And the distance they cover
Is the format of the sky
Above my lover.

Let the drawing stand up
And pour from its lip
All that can turn my wheel.

Further Information

Author John Berger

Reading Sample