2009/10 PRIZE "BOOK COVER FOR THE BOOK "ELEANOR" - Submitted works

In this cover I have wanted to depict the image of a flower, drawn in watercolour, symbol of a life that in the case of Eleanor starts, grows and wilts, but not without knowing moments of splendour and beauty.

Many people have given Eleanor a hand, many hands have approached her, many are those who, having known her, have taken part in her life. In an endless game where the roles of the giver and the receiver often are swapped over, her presence has been an occasion for everybody to give out something goo...

Roller skates, a toy in Eleanor’s childhood, is a symbol of a life which travels on wheels which you do not know if you can always control. The object becomes also a mirror for different emotions and feelings, as the various colours in their strong contrasts express overall a life full of joys and s...

Eleanor, like many disabled persons, has used means and instruments which have become extensions of herself, spaces where much life has gone by leaving unerasable traces. From this object a trail of calligraphic signs expands which opens up to the encounter with the person in front of you and is abl...

I have chosen to emblematically represent one of the many encounters of Eleanor with a creature which is “different” but made of the same vitality, the same mixture of signs, like traces of a single and infinite drawing of love. An encounter without prejudices.

Embrace and physical contact are the privileged channel of communication between men and animals which overcome every barrier and judgement, where the sole important ability is that of a mutual exchange of stimuluses. This way of relating to each other, dear to Eleanor as well, is a model for us all...

Eleanor’s life has span between two countries and two worlds which she has unhesitantly crossed with the most varied means of transport. The extreme experience of flying, even though helped by a plane, is the image and symbol of vitality, of the wish to overcome limits, inebriation and extraordinary...

The rainbow colours represent Eleanor’s various states of mind: from the coldest ones which suggest harmony and serenity to the warm and lively colours like aggressivity and rage. The text of the title is obtained with gestual and unexpected fonts which are the lively trace of Eleanor who crosses th...

Eleanor is called to get out of the dark vortix of uncontrolled emotions with a voluntary act. This exercise of will power is the symbol of a life which wants to grow, overcome the limits imposed by handicap, and face the world with a little jump of approval and vitality.

Eleanor’s life, for the difficulties she has had to face, has been an “enterprise”, lived with determination and courage, challenging fate, adversities and dangers, always with the desire and will to run the risk of living a full life despite everything.

I have represented Eleanor like an angel with wings which nearly wrap her up in a pensive and reflective attitude, sitting on the wall of disability, symbol of isolation and difficulties, which her life fully lived has wanted to overcome.

Every meeting in life leaves a trace which is like the print of the soul. A person’s life, and more so if disabled, is a chance for everybody to do good actions which leave traces. The leap and the explosive and uncontrolled joy are a reaction to the goods given and received.

I have wanted to  represent Eleanor’s life through the letters which make up her name, arranged in a graphic order, as complex as her life difficult to be faced. Eleanor on her mean of transport comes down the ramp with willpower and the courage of the one who despite her difficult situation wants t...