Whilst browsing the photographic books at Waterstones I found a book by Sylvie Huet titled ‘a story of bears’
“Sylvie Huet rediscovered her own childhood teddy at the age of 49 in a fleamarket. Until then he had lived only as a memory and in family photographs. Her discovery began a trail of exploration, revealing childhood memories and family secrets. The bears that feature are aged between 44 and 98 years old – worn, stitched, and scarred, yet seemingly indestructible. Mostly they are anonymous, but several have celebrity status. Amongst those included are Nana, Jean Paul Gaultier’s bear with the cone bra; Grayson Perry’s ‘personal god’ Alan Measles; Tomi Ungerer’s bear, who inspired his famous children’s book Otto; and Jubilee, a stuffed chimpanzee and the childhood companion of Dame Jane Goodall, now considered the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees. Sylvie Huet’s portraits give the bears a dignity that befits their status in the eyes of their owners. Included are archive photographs, stories from the past, accounts of meetings and literary extracts.” http://www.amazon.co.uk/Story-Bears-Sylvie-Huet/dp/1907893598/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451486111&sr=8-1&keywords=a+story+of+bears
all images copyright Sylvie Huet
I was inspired there and then, bought the book and started my own Bear Project. I asked friends and family to lend me their bears and capture in about 50 words why they were so special. What I discovered was the bears pictures were little without the narrative, the narrative little without the pictures of the bears. I loved gathering the bears, getting the stories and the props to compliment and further illustrate the piece.
