During the making of my final piece I wanted to look more into decay and remembered a short screen project on the subject by Sam Taylor-Johnson. She said ‘It was interesting in one way to take the idea (of Still Life) one step further by bringing in an animal, and also, that animal specifically, the hare in history, is the symbol of life and virility as well.’ When I first saw this piece I was quite taken aback, she puts it quite nicely that its very violet compared to a painting of a still life. The act of seeing decay is off-putting to many and allows the audience to see the grim realty of life. This reality, which is often swept under the rug by most people, is something that everybody knows about but no-one wants to see it. It a harsh reality that many would rather not face.
I took the visuals from the short film and the ones from the poem to use in the poster. Things like the way the corpse opens up and is pulled down by gravity. As well as the wide use of tone to convey depth in the text. To make the title stand out I had them in a heavier weight and made them look as if they we’re flies emerging from a rotting corpse. Further down the poem rivers begin to appear to reference holes and tears in flesh. The word disembodied is also quite prevalent, I spaced the lettering out far to give a sense of the word. I also think it’s a relevant word to be emphasised. I chose the thin paragraphs to emulate a book or gravestone giving it this underlining morbid appearance. This was also the reasoning for using Adobe Caslon Pro Regular as the typeface, I felt it has a vintage feel to coincide with memories in the piece. I also used it because I felt the thin stems and serifs had the look of a fly, it’s as if each letter has wings. The poem ends with the questions ‘what dirt shall we visit?’, having two similar questions emphasises what is being said and gives the audience time to think.
Some things I think I could have done better were perhaps having a more refined final piece. The project was only a week-long but I wish I could have had a more defined outcome, one that really expressed the poem. I also wish it looked more like a poster, I think my outcome looks more like a book. Looking back I could have done some more research into poetry posters for example to have a feel on how they handle so much text. This is something I struggle with and really want to learn more about.
Sources Used:
- http://samtaylorjohnson.com/moving-image/art/a-little-death-2002 (accessed 18th March)
Kristie King 