The War of the Worlds — Rising Out of the Earth | Original Papercut

Rising Out of the Earth is a hand-cut papercut created from an original page of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds.

The composition depicts a Martian fighting machine towering above the landscape, its three long legs extending down through the printed text. The image draws upon Wells’ descriptions of the enormous mechanical tripods that emerge across the English countryside, transforming the familiar landscape into something threatening and unrecognisable.

Cut directly from a page describing the battle between the Martian machines and the ironclad Thunder Child, the original text remains visible within the silhouette. The machine is not simply placed upon the page but emerges from it, its form created through the removal of the surrounding paper.

Individual words have been partially cut free, bending backwards from the surface as though attempting to flee the advancing machine. The text itself appears to recoil from the invasion, turning the printed page into part of the unfolding destruction.

A fragment of text, “rising out of the”, has been separated from the page and positioned beneath the composition. Removed from its original sentence, the words take on a new meaning, suggesting the arrival of something immense and unfamiliar from beneath the earth.

Hand cut.

The papercut is stitched by hand onto a black background so the page sits slightly away from the surface, allowing light and shadow to pass through the cut paper.

The work is presented in a hand-finished black box frame with a 20mm gap between the artwork and the glass, allowing sections of the page to lift from the surface and create subtle depth.

This work is the only hand-cut instance of the composition, made directly from a specific page of the novel.

A small studio edition may be developed from this work at a later date, derived from the original and produced through a separate, fixed process.

The artwork is A3 in size (297mm x 420mm)

Presented in a hand-finished black wooden box frame with anti-reflective, UV glass.

The artwork itself is complete and signed in the studio.

Each original work is carefully framed and prepared for shipment upon purchase.

Please allow up to 10 days for dispatch.