Brave on the Rocks: If You Don't Go, You Don't See - Softcover

Sabrina Ward Harrison

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375756639 ISBN 13: 9780375756634

Publisher: Villard, 2001

Synopsis

"In the continuum of life and trying to discover my true self, Sabrina reminds me, through her brave, insightful, and heartfelt honesty, that we are all connected in this journey. We are connected through an intertwining sameness called the struggles and joys of finding and becoming our authentic selves. When I read her words, I felt acknowledged for my journey and for being a woman in these complex times... Thank you, Sabrina, for sharing your gift with us. May we all continue to share our journeys together so we know we are not alone."
--from the Foreword by Hilary Swank, actor

From the acclaimed twenty-five-year-old author/artist of the stunning visual memoir Spilling Open comes the all-new multimedia installment of her intimate journey Brave on the Rocks: If You Don't Go, You Don't See.

Picking up where Spilling Open left off, Sabrina Ward Harrison tells us about the surprising reaction to her first book. Via her readers' letters and e-mails, she realized that through her journal she had become an identifying voice for women around the world. However, along with recognition came a certain pressure to uphold her new image. Overwhelmed by her attempt to live up to what she thought she had to become, Sabrina decided to head out on her own. She chose as her destination Italy, a place she had always dreamed and written about, a place she felt she could go to "recolor" herself. In her journey she discovered a universal identity with other travelers and a particular kinship with the women she met. But back home she struggled to keep her newfound confidence intact as she navigated her life.

Harrison writes and illustrates with a powerful and creative voice. Her thoughts are real and brave. She explores with sensitivity questions of love, faith, growing pains, being true to oneself, and what it means to be unique. With unfaltering honesty, she allows us to witness and share in her reconnection with herself, her growing and reaching, and, ultimately, her voyage home again.

About this title

About the Author

Sabrina Ward Harrison lives in New York City, where she spends her time making art, exploring with her camera, writing, and designing signature skirts. She is the author of Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself

"Harrison writes about the ache of innocent young love, the search for an authentic life, drinking jasmine tea, and youthful idealism... [She] taps into that underground vein of feminist thinking that isn't about smashing corporate glass ceilings or athletic records. It's about accepting feelings, questioning expectations and celebrating your individuality, not just your accomplishments."
--USA Today

"The pages are handwritten and handpainted. Each page is a collage, a fragmented puzzle of thoughts and lists and quotations, tied together with photos and color and honest, imperfect work."
--The Washington Post

"A series of lush and textured collages, Harrison's book contains colors, words, drawings, photos and other "spillings" of self-discovery. Each page requires contemplation and offers innumerable wonders to discover."
--Publishers Weekly

"Sabrina's work defies categorization... Once I turned the page, I discovered that her work was too elaborate to simply be called a book. Spilling Open is an intense, poetic and visually powerful diary.... Sabrina Ward Harrison could be the offspring of May Sarton, Henry Miller, Rilke or Whitman. Or she could be just a regular girl like me. And that, for once, is what gets my attention.
--Whitney Matheson, USAToday.com

From the Inside Flap

continuum of life and trying to discover my true self, Sabrina reminds me, through her brave, insightful, and heartfelt honesty, that we are all connected in this journey. We are connected through an intertwining sameness called the struggles and joys of finding and becoming our authentic selves. When I read her words, I felt acknowledged for my journey and for being a woman in these complex times... Thank you, Sabrina, for sharing your gift with us. May we all continue to share our journeys together so we know we are not alone."
--from the Foreword by Hilary Swank, actor

From the acclaimed twenty-five-year-old author/artist of the stunning visual memoir Spilling Open comes the all-new multimedia installment of her intimate journey Brave on the Rocks: If You Don't Go, You Don't See.

Picking up where Spilling Open left off, Sabrina Ward Harrison tells us about the surprising reaction to her first book. Via her readers' letters and e-mails

Reviews

Harrison's Spilling Open, the market phenom first published by a small press and then picked up by Villard, attracted young women in droves and was the subject of a USA Today cover story. The highly photogenic 25-year-old Canadian-born author/artist's next move was a retreat to Italy, armed with the paintbrushes, scissors, glue and pencils demanded by her montage art, to better reckon with the sudden external pressure. The result is part visual journal, part travelogue, part self-help guide and part feminist manifesto in a form reprising Spilling Open's collagist aesthetic and ethos. In it, Harrison speaks a self-questioning language most young adults will recognize immediately, whether they are famous or not: "Sometimes I feel isolated even more because readers may think that now because I am published... the aches... the questions... and the doubts must vanish... not so quickly" is sprawled across the second piece, in a childlike hand, which switches freely between lower case and capital letters, cursive and print. Comprising nearly 200 colorful collages, many incorporating writing, the book takes the art-therapy style espoused by SARK (Eat Mangoes Naked) and many others to further heights of art and catharsis, and ranges from mundanities ("The wrinkled balled-up black skirt just isn't pulling it off. It's better than shorts and a fanny pack for me though. No extra butt bulk!") to commentary (on tourists: "gripping onto their man's hand, him always leading the way, so much snapping pictures for proof what kind of proof? I don't believe in traveling this way") to mournful introspection. . (On-sale: Aug. 14)Forecast: Expect big sales among Gen-Y lipstick-feminist postslackers, denizens of the 11 cities Harrison plans to tour. Adults who were captivated by Griffin & Sabine may find this reality-based chronicle similarly compelling signaling a possible breakout, and certainly revived sales for Spilling Over.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Written in her teens, Harrison's first book, Spilling Open: The Art of Becoming Yourself (2000), was a published journal of stylish, sometimes witty collages and simple text in the tradition of Peter Beard. Personal, immediate, and filled with common angst, Harrison's creation earned her a large following of like-minded teens and young women. Her latest follows a similar formula. The text is a catalog of yearning, hope, and insecurities resembling song lyrics, written a few sentences per image. Overwhelmed by the impact of publishing, she travels to Italy, has adventures ("Zipping along the Riviera on a motorcycle in a bikini singing U2 songs out loud"), and returns home resolved to hang on to her newfound confidence. The art is the book's most interesting aspect. But the direct text will attract young advantaged women, who, in struggling with a similar multitude of options, will appreciate Harrison's personal charge: "What do I have to see? Where do I have to go? Learn that." Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

I don't have to "Rush to keep moving" to avoid the loneliness. I went to check my email and the network wasn't connecting. (God works in funny ways). I shouldn't be in an Internet cafe trying to "connect". I should be in the streets of this magnificent city. I have met great women traveling alone for similar reasons--escape, strength, to find something lost.

***

Sometimes I feel all of this rushing and swirling spinning in my body and nothing can seep in. It just swirls by my eyes--feel this--being this age feels insane at times. So much "becoming" and vast open changing. I want to stop all of this preparing for, stop and just feel this morning. I feel thick too and I don't like judging my body. I want to use it for exploring and dancing and living. I don't want to stare silently at its issues--but if I do, it's human. Cover--show--cover--show--cover. It is amazing--all that I do to myself to try to bring peace to the body I have.

***

It is the night of the big art opening. (I am wearing my Italian long skirt to remind me of that strength.) I can get so nervous about the art scene around here--What is it?--The flashy clothes and coolness level? I want to connect to the women at these openings, not get myself all spun out with comparing myself and feeling so retarded and nervous.

But tonight I feel better. I felt all of us making our way in this big and tiny world.

The swirling of compliments felt good--but left me with thoughts of wanting to know more of what the other women I was meeting do. What their stories are.

I tried to just close my eyes and feel this experience. (Dad always reminds me to do this...) "lose your eyes and listen to the words."

Tonight was completely the epitome of what I feared and craved in the art world. I like the good real folks I met tonight. Sincere. Good women. Kind guys. Lots of talking and real connection. I am reminded of that line--if you don't go you won't see. I feel I faced my intimidation tonight of this scene. just showed up for it--AND MADE IT.

Edition details

• Publisher: Villard
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0375756639
• ISBN 13: 9780375756634
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160