Layered masking tape pieces ‘translated’ into code – each letter on the uppermost layer represented in black, and the letters underneath shown in grey. Letters have been simplified into linear shapes and blocks so that they are not immediately recognisable as letters, yet some still carry enough clues to be identified, where others remain anonymous.
The linear aesthetic adopted in these drawings are an immediate translation from the grid structure of the squares of tape, and as such they mimic a line of text, yet they are equally ‘unreadable’ as letters or words. The original words written on the tape have been abstracted in a number of ways throughout the process – being initially split into individual lines of text due to the nature of the tape, then obscured as the strips of tape are layered on top of each other. They are then either woven or cut, both resulting in a series of square shapes each holding material that can stand alone or be taken as part of a whole; either way there is a conflict between seeing and reading what has been created. Ultimately the pieces make no literary sense in the syntax or grammar of the written lines, yet an attempt is still made to ‘read’ what is there- even if it is to pick out individual letters or words that remain recognisable. I believe this is a part of our mind that is required to make order from chaos so that we can have a better understanding of something. The unknown is dangerous in our minds and so we need to find ways to process and organise the chaos of sensory data into something more manageable, in this case being a visual image, letter or word. My attempt to collate this data has resulted in a visual that is not dissimilar to a plotted graph or chart. How the drawings are presented would affect the viewers’ perception; can letters be recognised because they already know that they are there? Or do they only see letters because they present themselves to the viewer because of the viewer’s cognition of language and the written word? Much like Pareidolia, we can pick out letters from what may appear to be random shapes or surfaces.
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AuthorThird Year BA Hons Fine Art student studying at Falmouth University Archives
April 2017
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