Filed under:
Representing Text
This project focuses on the act of visualizing and representing descriptive text appearing in books about domestic space. Visualizing is a common human trait that parallels a person’s experiences and points of view that make text, that is, written language take alternative mental forms. Take for example, a line in the introduction of Bryson’s At Home: A Short History of Private Life (2010), “Sitting at the kitchen table one afternoon, playing idly with the salt and pepper shakers, it occurred to me that I had absolutely no idea why, out of all the spices in the world, we have an abiding attachment to those two.” What kind of salt and pepper shakers? What style of table? And for that matter, what kind of kitchen design? The reader visualizes the scene from a life of experiences with salt and pepper shakers, and tables in kitchens. If one is familiar only with conventional glass salt and pepper shakers with metal tops, that is what the reader will form into mental images. If drawn to represent the image in a medium other than text, the reader might arrange the objects in a small-scale sculpture. That is the act that frames this project.
Several books on domestic space have been mined for this project to elicit lines of descriptive text that formed particular mental images during readings. The collection will be employed to design and construct small-scale models, or sculptures, that represent scenes. The first in the series is a mixed media piece constructed of wood, white tile, and linen assembled to represent the opening words of Banana Yoshimoto’s book, Kitchen (1988):
The place I like best in the world is the kitchen. No matter where it is, no matter what kind, if it’s a kitchen, if it’s a place where they make food, it’s fine with me. Ideally it should be well broken in. Lots of tea towels, dry and immaculate. White tile catching the light (ting! ting!) (3).
A set of new books to this writer will offer additional inspiration for constructions that represent text focused on domestic space:
At Home: An Anthology of Domestic Space (Cierand 1999); From Organization to Decoration (Brooker & Stone 2013); Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life (Nhat Hanh & Cheung 2011).
The outcome of this project will be a series of five to six small-scale models or sculptures that employ found materials. Accompanying words will be integrated into each piece as documentation of text.