An Orchestra of Minorities

Bound by Nicky Oliver

An Orchestra of Minorities
by Chigozie Obioma

Hand dyed fair calf and foil tooled. Bradel structure. Graphite and pigment edges. Multi-coloured double French endbands. Leather joints. Hand dyed calf edge-to-edge doublures which have been blocked with a gosling feather with clear foil (the impression of which 'ghosts' onto the suede flyleaves opposite.

Concept: Chinonso Solomon Olisa is a simple chicken farmer and the protagonist of this story. The story is narated by Chinonso's chi, his spiritual guardian and structured into 3 incantations. At the beginning of each incantation, Chinonso's chi pleads to the Old Fathers of Bechukwu, the Heavenly Place, to spare his host's soul, for he knows not what he has done.

There is a sense of foreboding from the very beginning of this tale - I wanted to capture the essence of that through colour, movement and stillness. I also wanted to include small details from within the text to decorate the piece. The metallic blue bands represent Chinonso's chi and the 3 incantations. Each of the bands have been decorated with hologram chicken feathers. The eleven arrows are a nod to the eleven processes of reincarnation. The black vertical bands are for the four years Chinonso was imprisoned and the feather inside the book is a small gosling feather.

You can see more of Nicky's work on her web site, Black Fox Bindery