My drawings have developed to combine writing whilst on the move- originally recording the process of writing, and then moving on to record written data that I have seen whilst moving, such as road signs and traffic warnings. The drawings reinstate the idea of mapping that particular journey with the addition of written ‘checkpoints’ to anchor the drawing to places along the way. But whilst these words are written, only some are visible as words on the page; the pen’s line has been distorted by the movement of the car to become marks. When looking back on the drawings it is an activity of both seeing and reading- close examination reveals the presence of words, but it is a matter of translation to pick out and decipher these words from the other marks on the page. Initially on a small scale, these drawings now have the potential to span a much larger surface area, and the additional potential for this surface to be stretched across three-dimensions. I am reminded of the work of Leon Ferrari when I make these drawings; they link visually with his ink and graphite drawings of the 1960s.
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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. Whilst working with the Tate Collective I have taken part in a number of workshops in different locations around Cornwall; all transport was provided by a vintage coach from the 1950s. This coach in comparison to other means of transport has been considerable bumpy, providing perfect opportunities to continue with my developments in visual mapping. I have started to introduce colour into some of my kinetic map drawings to distinguish from different parts of the journey. I have also in the last week just started to experiment with the idea of writing whilst the coach is moving. Combining the movement of the bus with attempting to write has made for an interesting method of mark-making. Whilst some text is easy to read other letters and words are distorted beyond the point of recognition. This makes what I have made difficult to distinguish between writing and drawing. But in spite of this I want to continue to look into this balance between writing and drawing and see what else I can discover by rosin paths between the two.
Whilst making 3D woven structures using layered strips of tape I discovered its potential to fold flat and reopen again. I immediately thought of these structures opening and closing like the pages of a book, only the text coming out from the two-dimensional restraints of the pages. After researching into ‘3D Woven objects’ I soon realised that there were people out there far more accomplished than me with the creation of interesting shapes and objects using a similar slotting technique, and far more advanced technologies similar to 3D printing to create woven structures and fabrics. Looking into the complex processes of making these highly structured fabrics I realise that the technology at my disposal is far inferior to what is possible, yet on close inspection I am fascinated with the images produced of the different weaving processes and how one measurement or thickness of fibre can change its whole structure. Like my work, the materials are subject to a series of trials, each resulting in a different construction. The images created to demonstrate each type of fabric reminds me of the 3D woven structure that I have already created, plus other images link back to my experiments with line including drawings and the use of shredded paper. However I soon realised that as interesting as these shapes and processes were, my aim was different in that I didn’t only want to create a tangible object but something that explores how we approach and interact with text. Trial and error allowed me to create a triangular construction that would open and close in a double page spread with a continuous yet folded line of text at the front. From there it has been a case of trying out different arrangements within the ‘book’ layout.
I hesitate to call these objects books. On one hand they open and close like a book and contain pages of ‘text’, and as Katherine Hayles describes in her book ‘Writing Machines’, a page in a book is a unit of reading. But at the same time I wonder if they would not perhaps be better suited as ‘readable objects’ or ‘readable structures’, as there is more to these objects than the flat pages inside them, the page being an interface that constructs textual ‘space’- and the text that they contain present challenges to the reader as they are unconventional in both layout and content; both of which are abstract. The text has been stretched from 2D ‘pages’ into 3D, Hayles describes this as a topographic space; onto which a reader can project themselves. As a result the reader experiences the object as a space to explore rather than just a line to follow. Continuing to stretch the potential of ‘weaving’ the written word into a single form has lead me to experiment with weaving in three dimensions. I have cut slots into the strips of layered masking tape and then slotted the strips together, resulting in a piece of work that crossed the boundaries between writing, mark-making and sculpture. Although I have initially presented this piece on a vertical wall there are multiple ways to view and interact with it. Each angle that you look at it presents a different combination of intensities of the ink on the tape, some angles of tape appearing more prominent than others. Similarly each angle presents a different orientation of text, and the relationship between opposing strips of tape means that these orientations can clash or read directly from one to another. The piece also benefits from the capacity of flexibility; its structure allows it to bend and flex like a piece of fabric and it can also fold completely flat into a single line of layered text.
I think that these capabilities allow for further experimentation of the limits of this methodology, with the potential of projection in order to create interesting shadows, and to also play with the individual box-like structures and see what can be contained inside them. |
AuthorThird Year BA Hons Fine Art student studying at Falmouth University Archives
April 2017
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