House of Leaves

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Mark Z. Danielewski’s House Of Leaves is going to form the backbone of my dictionary, which will go in a more typographical direction (I’ve been experiencing some ennui where my illustration is concerned). I liked how the structure of House Of Leaves lends itself particularly well to multiple narratives and how the citations and appendices in the book make the fiction of the story feel real.

The dichotomy between fact and fiction is a sub-theme I was thinking of exploring in my dictionary project, which I’ve carried forward from the mystery kit that I did in the first project.

Like House Of Leaves my dictionary will have two non-chronological narrative threads (for now) – the first one will be my own personal perspectives on the work as well as my own sense of ennui that I’m trying to shake off at the moment. The second one will be the narrative of the surviving Gemini twin, so I’ll essentially be writing in two voices. My experimentations here will be more type-based so that I can use the subjectivity of each ‘definition’ (more of a series of themed anecdotes and snapshots) to flesh out the content of the project.

To cement the accuracy of my homage to Danielewski’s novel I will also include my research, OSS entries, illustrations, song lyrics and chat logs with friends whom I’ve discussed my project with as part of the set of appendices I’ll have at the end of the dictionary. I’m going as experimental as I can with this since it’s my last chance to make something really different and crazy before FYP.

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Another one of my references is the series of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, which I used to collect in my childhood. The narrative has one set of ‘correct’ choices that the reader is supposed to make to reach the desired ending and avoid their character dying prematurely. I was thinking of incorporating a similar kind of choice element in the narrative underpinning the dictionary with references from particular entries to other entries (i.e. under the term optical illusions, I’ll have an instruction to refer to hypnosis –  a similar thing could be done in particular entries that ask the reader to refer to the appendix, which is also what House Of Leaves does to enrich the narrative). I may or may not have time to do a lot of this but I like the idea of the two voices in the dictionary interweaving with more objective, factual sources in the appendix.

The project is essentially just an exploration of feeling and voice within a format that is usually considered objective. Basically I just want to play with the fact-fiction divide and see if I can craft something believable.

Emma Kisiel’s ‘At Rest’ Series

Emma Kisiel’s At Rest Series

“At Rest is a photographic series depicting roadkill on American highways and addressing our human fear of confronting death and viewing the dead. My images draw attention to the fact that, while man has a vast impact on animal and natural life, generally in American society, people are separate from wildlife and the souls of animals have little value. To cause the viewer to feel struck by this notion, I photograph memorials I have built surrounding roadkill at the location at which its life was taken. At Rest expresses the sacredness to the bodies of animals hit by vehicles while crossing the road. Statement revised 2014.”

Fox, from the series At Rest

Deer 1, from the series At Rest

Deer 3, from the series At Rest

Possum, from the series At Rest

Pheasant, from the series At Rest

I find this series oddly beautiful and macabre. In the same vein as my explorations on mortality, I’d say it isn’t necessary to do what I’ve been doing at the moment and make death all about skulls, etcetera (thanks, Vishaka, for the feedback). I could go with something macabre but this photo series is rather inspirational in that it makes death something more restful and memorializes the oft-ignored roadkill.

 

The Sick Rose

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From The Sick Rose: Disease and the Art of Medical Illustration by Richard Barnett.

I love how the book cover and contents marry a more vintage illustrative style with modern sensibilities (use of the grid and sans-serif type). I’m interested to do something like this on a smaller scale for my project, perhaps to produce a book/booklet/magazine in this kind of vein.

Tarot Birthday Correspondences

Tarot Birthday Correspondences

There are cards in the major and minor arcanas of the standard tarot deck that correspond to the twelve astrological signs of the zodiac.

Gemini’s major arcana card is The Lovers. With my own birthday being taken as an example, my personal card in the minor arcana is the 10 of Swords. My court card is the Queen of Cups.

Dotwork documentation video

Making by hero

One of my friends tagged me in this video featuring a dotwork illustration process. I was thinking that this could be a good idea for me to show how therapeutic dotwork is for me. It may also be a good time-based documentation log, so perhaps I could produce my own kind of process video as one of my final three outcomes in my project.

Dotwork is personally really important to me because I got into the style when I was in a very sad headspace. The process of dotting helped me overcome my sadness and negativity and has now become something that I really enjoy regardless of mood.

Gnoli’s Modern Bestiary

Giornale Nuovo: Gnoli’s ‘Modern Bestiary’

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I love the details and surreal quality of these images. I’m using them as visual inspiration for the kind of images I want to produce with regard to my own project. I’d also like to incorporate the juxtaposition of the natural and the bizarre which is what I do already in my own personal illustration work.