Nana Joy and the Sadness of the World written and illustrated by Lainey Lancaster

A story in collage

Troubled by the sadness in the world, Nana Joy and her little dog Trowser set out on a journey to find happiness.

The Story

Nana Joy is lonely, and saddened by the state of the world. When the postman delivers charity mail he brings the sadness to her home. Her faithful companion, Trowser, wants to cheer her up but doesn't know how.

Prompted by a visit to the High Street - run down and largely taken over by charities - Nana Joy is inspired to try to find happiness.

The story follows Nana and Trowser in their search for happiness.

Background

The paper and mixed media collages in the book were created from materials received from UK charities by five households in London, Shropshire, Lincolnshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. They were collected over the period of a year from August 2016.

The collages were photographed and then digitally manipulated to introduce the character elements and other digital illustrations.

The Collection

The collection includes material from 68 charities.

The households received more than 180 pieces of mail, contents included 12 plastic pens of poor quality, 8 plastic book marks, a metal pin badge, 5 paper and plastic pin badges, 8 notebooks, 36 notelets or Christmas cards with envelopes, 2 wooden poppy ‘remembrance’ crosses, 2 calendars, 2 fridge magnets, 8 window stickers, 12 Christmas drinks coasters, a transparent A3 plasticised printout of a plan for a water filter, an A2 sized folded map of the world, 2 five pence pieces and 1 two pence piece...and a teabag.

None of it was invited. The paper amounted to more than two reams. Multiply that across the UK: that's a lot of trees.