Glosses (Letters to X . vol/2)
Glosses is the second volume of a larger project, Letters to X, and it is a critique of social media and a response to a self-imposed question: what is conversation as an object?
The contents of the sixteen handwritten letters were typographically translated and adapted as phrasal templates (like MadLibs) and printed in blue ink; they are arranged as a near-continuous stream of correspondence with all salutations and closings removed. My commentary is printed in metallic gold ink, which was chosen for its historical connection with manuscript illumination and glossing (marginal notations) – both are considered forms of collaborative writing. As the pages of Glosses are turned, the glossing and correspondence visually shift and eventually, the annotation becomes the main text itself.
Made with LoRes 12 OT (Emigre / Zuzana Licko) and Eskapade Fraktur (Type Together / Alisa Nowak). Risograph printed with blue and metallic gold ink on French Paper Newsprint Extra White. Saddle-stitched. Dimensions are 8" x 8.25" closed, 8" x 16.5" open. 24 pages. Risograph printed by Constance New Orleans on French Paper Newsprint Extra White.
Awarded in the STA 100 by the The Society for Typographic Arts, Chicago (2017).
2018. The Paper is Part of the Picture juried exhibition. Anderson Gallery, Drake University, Des Moines, IA.
2017. Structure Unbound: Interdisciplinary Book Art juried exhibition. Wright State University, Dayton, OH.
2016. Text, Type, Typography juried exhibition. The Marymount California University, Marylyn and Chuck Klaus Center for the Arts, San Pedro, CA.
© Jessica Barness