Grapheme, 4 minutes, animation, 4k, sound, 2021
Grapheme is a short experimental video exploring the visual representation of language and symbols. A personal collection of books, letters, photographs, postcards, posters and signs are represented throughout the work. The title “grapheme” is derived from a linguistic term referring to the smallest unit, or letter, of the written language. In this piece, the written word and representational images are simplified to an ambiguous visual motif through extreme close-ups, a fast-paced rhythm and dynamic motion. The nature of seeing and reading is questioned by the sequence of images, letters and words. Underscoring the video is an original soundtrack composed with a musical collaborator, Daniel Brlas. In this moving-image work, visual language is interrogated as a fragile source of meaning.
Inspired by Hollis Frampton’s film Zorns Lemma (1970), Walker Evans’ late photographic work and the typography innovations of the Futurists, this video interrogates how we interpret meaning through the imagery of symbolism and letters. In Frampton’s film, an alphabetical order structures everyday signage creating an uncertain narrative that is both prophetic and banal. Evans, who originally aspired to be a writer, photographed signage his entire career and at the end of his life he distilled sign letters into abstraction with some of his polaroids from 1973-74. Marinetti innovated typography design in the early 20th century with his Futurist Manifesto (1909), and subsequent poetry publications. With a radical approach to letters and design, he turned simple letters into a new visual language. Grapheme takes from these historical sources and designs a new meaning about the nature of written communication.
Grapheme is a short experimental video exploring the visual representation of language and symbols. A personal collection of books, letters, photographs, postcards, posters and signs are represented throughout the work. The title “grapheme” is derived from a linguistic term referring to the smallest unit, or letter, of the written language. In this piece, the written word and representational images are simplified to an ambiguous visual motif through extreme close-ups, a fast-paced rhythm and dynamic motion. The nature of seeing and reading is questioned by the sequence of images, letters and words. Underscoring the video is an original soundtrack composed with a musical collaborator, Daniel Brlas. In this moving-image work, visual language is interrogated as a fragile source of meaning.
Inspired by Hollis Frampton’s film Zorns Lemma (1970), Walker Evans’ late photographic work and the typography innovations of the Futurists, this video interrogates how we interpret meaning through the imagery of symbolism and letters. In Frampton’s film, an alphabetical order structures everyday signage creating an uncertain narrative that is both prophetic and banal. Evans, who originally aspired to be a writer, photographed signage his entire career and at the end of his life he distilled sign letters into abstraction with some of his polaroids from 1973-74. Marinetti innovated typography design in the early 20th century with his Futurist Manifesto (1909), and subsequent poetry publications. With a radical approach to letters and design, he turned simple letters into a new visual language. Grapheme takes from these historical sources and designs a new meaning about the nature of written communication.
Screenings
2023 Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film & Video, Durango, Mexico
2023 Annotate This!, Concordia University, Webster Library, Montreal, QC
2023 Video Fever 2023, Trinity Square Video, Images Festival and Vtape, Toronto, ON2022 Festival of Student Film, Belgrade, Serbia
2023 Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film & Video, Durango, Mexico
2023 Annotate This!, Concordia University, Webster Library, Montreal, QC
2023 Video Fever 2023, Trinity Square Video, Images Festival and Vtape, Toronto, ON
2022 Festival of Student Film, Belgrade, Serbia2023 Annotate This!, Concordia University, Webster Library, Montreal, QC
2023 Video Fever 2023, Trinity Square Video, Images Festival and Vtape, Toronto, ON
Reviews
“The soundtrack and images take you on a journey in this short film. There was tension as we are presented with the ways the visual language can bring its own depth of meaning and is also deconstructed.” – Ellie Lathrop (2023)
Film Stills
Poster
