Line Work

Line Work, shown at Tuggeranong Arts Centre in July 2019, builds on the ideas first shown in We Are Lost. It uses material communication processes to explore, shift and ‘lose’ visual readings of difficult texts.

The source texts are words used to insult and threaten women, taken from a deep dive into online misogyny. These insults sink deep into the psyche despite constant advice to ‘brush them off’. Transforming the words is a cathartic act of disruption. They seem impenetrable, but they use a system – the physical movements of letterpress hand-typesetting and keyboard typing – and as such, their meanings can be restored, if desired, by giving them careful forensic attention. Or not: perhaps some things are better lost.

One of the central interactive works, Bad Keys (right), is a collaboration with code artist Tim Brook. Participants are offered a keyboard environment, where they can type in anything they wish, and watch the resulting screen drawing unfurl. These actions are not connected to the internet nor recorded. If you have interacted with Bad Keys and would like to give us some feedback about it, we would be very pleased.

Another interactive work is a pair of colouring-in books called Keyborts and Oddbots that invite small and large people to participate in a ‘Mr Squiggle‘ style to transform my drawn glyphs into something more fun.

Other works involve hand-set letterpress printing, drawing, and mixed media.

Some of the works will be included in my upcoming 2019 Cordite Books volume, Lost in Case.