Flowers in My Heart: Stories of Estrangement

flowers in my heart:

STORIES OF ESTRANGEMENT

Ishrat Ali

What exactly is estrangement?

It’s the experience of feeling disconnected or cut off from the outside world. This feeling of alienation draws attention to the many difficulties people encounter when attempting to connect with others and their surroundings. Although estrangement can vary from person to person, it can affect many facets of our life today such as our personal relationships and how we engage with the world around us.

This book is a short collection of four narratives that uses bold color, typography, and illustration to explore the themes of estrangement in a deeply personal way. Each page is a canvas that intertwines these personal narratives with the emotions and experiences felt by these people.

From delicate brushstrokes to bold strokes of ink, every illustration tells a story within a story, inviting readers to delve deeper into the emotions that connect and divide us.

This QR code leads you to a Spotify playlist with song suggestions from strangers who have experienced estrangement in some shape or form.

i. winter months

i will not apologize for leaving.

ii. longer route

iii. lost sibling

I WONDER WHAT ELSE WE WOULD HAVE BONDED OVER. I WONDER WHAT ELSE WE WOULD HAVE BONDED OVER.

iv. perfect victim

I DON'T CARE. I DON'T CARE.

This singular edition book is bound by hand and designed at SUNY New Paltz for Graphic Design

Thesis of 2024 by Ishrat Ali. Marble designs created by Suminagashi Japanese marbling techniques.

All handwritten letters were personally collected and shared in this book with the consent of the authors. Writers of these stories prefer to remain anonymous.

All designs were illustrated in Adobe Illustrator and printed through Adobe InDesign.

Typefaces used in this book are: Mogilte, Sofia Pro, AnuDaw Italic, and CHARLEY.