Book 61  Return to the Stars Penn, C. (2009) (Fig. 60). Return to the Stars. Unique artist’s book.  Altered book which includes edition 5 of books 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 47, 49, 0, 56, 58, 59 and 60.  Paper, photographs, paint, text, collage. 22cm x 14cm x 9cm.  Collection: Cheryl Penn.

Books 40, 41,42, 44, 45, 47, 49, 50, 56, 58, 59 and 60 deal with the developments detailed by certain characters who realize  that the Moses Mahbida Stadium is in fact an alien space ship. They are written in the form of hand delivered, or posted letters, by the various characters as they try to piece together information regarding the purpose of the space ship.   These limited edition one page books were  intended as a series; they were part of a mailing program I conducted with Peter Clarke in Cape Town, Dr Estelle Liebenberg-Barkhuizen in Pietermaritzburg and Lesley Magwood-Fraser in Kloof.These artists with whom I started  swopping artworks in the post,  They  received editions 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

I had kept editions 4 and 5.  I needed a way for these individual books to be collated together in sequential order. To this end I altered the book  Return to the Stars by Erich Von Daniken. This copy of  Return to the Stars  now acts as a container for another narrative based on a similar theme.  In his book Von Daniken (1968) claims that intelligent extraterrestrial life has visited earth in the past and that evidence of their visit is abundant. He also claims that the evolution of humans has been manipulated through genetic engineering.  Von Daniken uses ancient art throughout the world to support his theories.  Art, which to his eye resembles astronauts, space ships and non-human creatures.

The pages of the book were torn, glued and cut to form pockets.  Except for pieces of text relevant to the new narrative, the pages were painted out, new images and  symbols added, as well as  hand written text.   The text is added by a new character, Jessica, the daughter of Rachel,  who has found her dead mothers letters after The Disappearance.