With the previous notion in mind, I have came up with a narrative so as to tie all of my typographic portraits together so as to have it appear not only as individual pieces but also as a whole.
It starts with the idea that I am an osteologist. An osteologist make a living by studying bones of the dead. Forensics and the biology matter has always fascinated me, where the essential, tangible things that were ultimately left behind still tells a story. Here, I believe that, bones not only embodies the idea of death and parting but it also signifies life for it is the essential component that while fragile, is ironically strong as well, as it once held the muscles and organs of a living thing together so as it could function together perfectly. After all, going down to the bones of it all (pun intended), there is a reason why people coined it as a ‘skeletal system’ for many things that has nothing to do with the biological matter.
My name Fits has been included within the shadows.
I used several other mediums, traditional ones so far, such as watercolour and pastel but all of which turned out to be rather disappointing. I thus have decided to use pen. Although in hindsight, perhaps I could’ve used digital so as to provide the stark contrast and have the final piece as a solid one. However, I have no knowledge (except the very basic of the basics) on how to manipulate images digitally. I hope that I would learn to pick it up sometime as I am sure it would be useful.
The next piece encompass the meaning of my name. I have an Indonesian ancestry and the meaning behind the name Fitri is natural, which I have turn it around to nature.
For this piece, I played with negative and positive spaces, only employing silhouettes. I like to see it as an ironic piece because it further pushes the amazing concept about the idea of death, and what is more apt to describe it if not for the cycle of life?
The ‘canvas’ I had used is a banana leaf, a relatively flat counterpart to the other leafy vegetables. It provide an easier base for the cutout. The greenery signifies the living. Also, the smaller details is also very telling as the butterfly, slug and mushroom are very much part of the living. However, these living things help in the decomposition of the dead, breaking down its body so as to nourish the earth once again. Thus, like bones, we see the balanced play between the concept of life and death.
The sun situated above the letter I also signifies the end of one’s life, as it is in a setting position, an imagery often used in literature.
Something I found rather hard working with this would be the idea that I was not able to include as much details as I would like.
Seeing as how the other details were too minute, it was tough trying to carve it out on something as fragile as a banana leaf. Thus, I’ve decided to do away with it.
The third piece, while it is important in itself, it also serves as the primary piece that ties everything together as the other pieces are repeated in it. The bones, the greenery. It provides a certain transition from the concept of osteology and the philosophical idea behind the matter of life and death (although a rather shallow one), to a concept of quirks and habits of a person.
As a piece in itself, it serves to emulate the idea of organised chaos. Not much of chaotic but the notion of balance between the these two notions that bring about harmony.
My name stands out with the bold colours among the diluted ones.
Again, like the first piece, it would’ve been nice if it was digitally formed instead to bring out a more solid piece.
I had to tweak the arrangements at the end of the day so as to fit the small space without having everything look too crowded.
The last piece has the concept of clinomonia, the desire to stay in bed. It’s a rather straightforward piece where the name is bound with the tissue paper that is glued to the base. The name is a pop up, where the shadows would further enhance the 3D effect so that the viewer has a clearer view. I also dust black pastel around it so that it would be more defined.
The news paper at the top serves as a transitionary image to tie to the previous piece (newspaper cut out is framed).
Below are some of the things I’ve experimented with.
All in all, I found it to be a challenging project because my aesthetic is to have very minimalistic pieces but it would in turn look rather non-encompassing and lacklustre, such as:
Through this project, I had to come out of my comfort zone and hopefully, I am able to further push my creativity at the end of the day.