EXERCISE BOOKS & ANDREA

The sting of soapy water on permanently grazed knees. The muffled crackle of orange flavoured Space Dust. The itchy pleasure of a wobbly milk tooth. There was the embarrassment, also familiar to thousands of school kids, of doing PE in your vest and knickers because your mum’s forgotten to pack your kit. It was 1979, Andrea was 4 years old and it was her first day at Fernwood Infants’ school. These exercise books are saved from that same time. They are filled with beautiful drawings of supermen called Jonathan, of the descent of a crispy looking Icarus, of post box red tractors and yellow submarines. Their titles span everything from ‘hospitals’ (two volumes) to ‘the colour red’ to ‘pets’. Andrea covered them with pages taken from a wallpaper sample book. These same patterns covered whole kitchens, bedrooms and lounges across Britain for a decade.

02 Jun 2013