Mr Pink

 

Please excuse my dirty, printy hands, I spent Sunday and Monday making a zine about Mr Pink using some Gelli printed papers, with collaged images of Mr Pink and many collaged flowers from magazines. The effect is about as vibrant as I needed to capture his character. 

Mr Brenton Somerville Pink was born in Jamaica in 1925, in 1957 he emigrated to London where he worked as a refuse collector until he retired in 1988. He admired a house in Lewisham and bought it for himself, bringing to it the colour, happiness, vibrance of Jamaica and his character. 

I am really enjoying printing images on tracing paper and having that bright translucence and layering that this brings to projects. I have to say making these tiny books about all manner of subjects and interesting people brings me great joy, it is forming an odd diary (library) of my interests, events and life.

Filmmaker and director Helen Appio has made a series of films about the Windrush generation and one of them thankfully captured the wonderful Mr Pink.  

"I was very much influenced by the fact that he had the confidence to live his life and create his own world without being worried about what

others felt or thought about him, that was an important lesson. I have spent much of my life worrying about what people think about me and Mr Pink taught me a valuable life lesson."     Helen Appio