S01/ ATLAS: THE SOLILOQUIES OF A CONFUSED COSMOPOLITAN
Atlas/ 2018The cover for my Atlas was derived from a photograph of the Waterplace Park Bridge in Providence.
Year: Spring 2018
Typology: Editorial
Size: 8.5 x 11.0 in
Typology: Editorial
Size: 8.5 x 11.0 in
Printing: Lulu, B/W Printing
Typefaces: Aktiv Grotesk by Dalton Maag
Typefaces: Aktiv Grotesk by Dalton Maag
A performance of twelve unique labors within Providence in an attempt to better understand my method of working, and the various cultural and social factors that influence my design practice.
By all measures, this was an unconventional design prompt. Tasked with twelve labors that included documenting a trip from any two locations in Providence, to writing three postcards from a local park, the Atlas project blurred the lines between the personal and the professional. Allow me to elaborate.
I am unsure if this was the result of a south asian upbringing or just a personal choice, but I have always maintained a strict separation between my personal life and my professional endeavors. Education was something to be rigorously pursued leaving little room for questions of identity or feelings to influence one’s decisions. In fact, the milieu that I was raised in regarded expression of emotions and a general curiosity of one’s identity as being encumbrances to academic progress, completely disregarding the possibility that one’s success at school was a factor of one’s mental wellbeing.
Conceived as a blank slate that can be personalized by each member of the cohort, Seyong Ahn, a classmate of mine, designed several variations of Atlas stickers that could be used to populate the blank cover in unique ways.
Centered on two conversations; one, with myself, and another with my classmate Yoonsu Kim, the Atlas was the first of a series of attempts to trace a thread between my identity and my design practice. The two of us spoke of cultural practices and ways of life common to South Korea, where Yoon is from, and South India, my own home.
Each spread has three forms of typographic treatment: bold text (soliloquies); italicized (for my conversation with Yoon); and regular text (general commentary).
Simultaneously, in a series of soliloquies that punctuate each spread, I express the emotions and thoughts that accompanied my move to the U.S.. Reinforcing these thoughts are images of cultural artefacts, eminent political figures, articles from the Illustrated Weekly of India, a popular magazine in the 20th century, and advertisements that pervade the urban landscapes of both nations, marking regions of cultural commonality and contrast.
Atlas/ 2018
The Spreads spoke to the differences and similarities between life in Providence, and the life that I once lived, in Bangalore, India.
References:
1 Appiah, Anthony. 2010. Cosmopolitanism: ethics in a world of strangers. Johanneshov: TPB.