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mourHu

by
 

about this book:

mourHu illustration found by paul Ramsay
· do you have a sense of mourHu? ·

mourHu
: a cut-up collection of changed cartoons from the 40s to the 80s




for more on mourHu
see the mourVu interview ;-)
mourHu by Paul Ramsay
UpCut Series 002
Banner for mourVu interview with Paul Ramsay

Q: What exactly is 'mourHu'?
A: It's a frame of mind, really
Q: And how did it come about?
A:
I have a real love for joke cartoons and wanted to enter that world, so I set about reassembling some of them.
Q: Is that some kind of critique?
A:
I like all of the characters involved - I just gave them a new script.
Q: Are you claiming originality from other people's work?
A: Yes
Q: !

A:

The originals have long since wrapped someone's fish and chips/mouldered in an attic/grown yellow in a box in a car boot sale. I did make a donation to relevant charities.
Q: Who do you see as the audience for this work?

A:

Well, I love the idea of someone coming across a copy of mourHu in a library or second-hand book shop unexpectedly (just as I did as a child with Hoffnung's little books and Spike's 'Milliganimals'). I think the appeal will be to around 6 people in the UK - less so overseas, as they say: humour doesn't travel...
Q: I assume the original material was very un-PC?

A:

A lot of it yes. Very few women cartoonists appear–it is its own world, passing now.


Q:

On reading this book I sensed that there was perhaps more than one kind of mourHu?

A:

Yes, this unfolded over time.
I wasn't interested in the purely bizarre or in exposing the
  power relations of the characters in any obvious way. I agree there do seem to be types...
Q: What were the rules?

A:

I've described the rules of generation, in a general sense,
at the beginning of the book. For this particular work, the picture and the caption also had to come from the same title/source. The age-range of the material is 40s through to the 80s, though most is from the 50s and 60s. Future mourHu may vary in approach.
Q: So you intend er... more?

A:

Yes, I am currently working on a mourHu Summer Special and have ideas for other publications.
Q: ...more mourHu!
A: You said it!
   
mourHu is on sale now
look out for the Summer Special in 2020!


paperback
Alembic 9:
ISBN 978-1-873396-27-8
180 pages, b&w/colour,
colour cover, 5x8 ins

£11 (inc p&p)

hardback
Alembic 9H:
ISBN 978-1-873396-28-5
180 pages, b&w/colour,
colour cover, 5x8 ins
£20 (inc p&p)
Release date:
bookwork - Alembic 9:
mourHu by Paul Ramsay
If you would like to know more, please get in touch
 
 
© Alembic Books 2024 - Paul Ramsay