2. Context
AUTUMN 2022
LONDON < > BOGOTA
19th Century Latin American Print Swatchbook
The purpose of this swatch box is to reframe a collection of 19th-century Latin American phamplets, through creating new ways of reagin type specimens and ornaments, focusing on their character and personality instead of their formal qualities. This is to help us appreciate the intrinsic qualities of the original material beyond the language barrier.
The physical artefact becomes, in fact, a catalyst for a new way of understanding and interacting with the original archival material, exploring the compartmentalised nature of this piece as a material interpretation of what it means to “categorise” within space.
Context
Throughout history, type specimens have often been collected and organised through formal and established systems developed over time. This project aims to reframe the way these visual elements are read, focusing on their character and personality instead of their formal qualities. This is to help us see the contradictions or assertions within the original material.
Based on Foucault’s "Language as Order," I developed a new system of categorising and understanding both type and ornamental specimens, departing from historical connotations and focusing on the intrinsic characteristics of each graphic element.
Bibliography
Jong, C.de, Tholenaar, J. and Purvis, A.W. (2017) in Type: A visual history of typefaces and graphic styles, 1628-1938. Köln: Taschen, pp. 43–386.
Borges, J. (1937-1952) ”The Analytical Language of John Wilkins” Other Inquisitions. Translated from the [Spanish] by R. Simms, 1964. p. 101-105.
Foucault, M. (2001) The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. London: Routledge, p. 16.
Castelnau, François Louis Nompar de Caumat de Laporte (1810-1880) - JSTOR (2013) JSTOR. Available at: https://plants.jstor. org/stable/10.5555/al.ap.person.bm000069773 (Accessed: October 31, 2022).
Juxtaposition (2020) EnglishLiterature.Net. Available at: https://englishliterature.net/ literary-devices/juxtaposition