The story of our illustrations
“I was at the festival to see The Growlers in 2015, and I loved the festival then already. As an illustrator, my mind is constantly filled with images that I usually go on to sketch later, and that’s also what I did with my memories of that day.” When Tsjisse was asked by BW H ontwerpers from Leeuwarden to come up with illustrations for the festival, he immediately linked the images in his head with what he already had on paper, which proved to be an excellent jumping-off point for his first illustration. His illustrations (coming up to a total of four) are not separate illustrations, but rather form a leporello.
“A leporello is sort of a folded leaflet, creating a story whereby the pages aren’t turned, but the story actually expands by turning out the pages.” The binding is named after a character from Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni. Leporello was Don Giovanni’s servant and it was he that had to keep a list of all of his master’s conquests in a little notebook, adding a page for each woman. As Don Giovanni’s appetite seemed to know no bounds, the story appears to go on eternally, with the notebook gaining more and more pages. “Due to the elongated size, the story is set on a time line, a bit like the festival itself. This way I can document the entire run-up to the festival, before it becomes Welcome to The Village.”
“This story is one full of discoveries, just like the festival itself.” Explaining and clarifying everything what’s to be seen in an illustration, is not necessary. “When you are not conclusive and leave things open to interpretation, then what is there, is not just the creator’s and what the creator intended anymore, but also what and how the audience receives and interprets things.” And then there’s the fact that not everything you see is an obvious reference. “I want to play a game with some leads returning again and again, and others not being all too obvious. The cat, for instance, is a quite literal reference to the Grauwe Kat stage. That’s all I’m gonna say though!
Keep an eye on our site and socials for more news on Tsjisse’s creations. This story isn’t over yet!
Want to see more of Tsjisse’s work? Then check out his own website and the Knetterijs website (Knetterijs is the collective Tsjisse is affiliated with).