Book, Editorial Design, and Photography
A collection of visual and "portraits" exploring the themes of home, memory, and nostalgia following a self-initiated research trip to Havana, Cuba.
2016 — Instructor: River Jukes-Hudson— Independent Study / Print / Sound
Process
Where or what is the place or thing that gives you the feeling of "home" in Havana?
These portraits take different formats as they tell different stories of the lives we encountered and experiences we had during our seven days in Cuba. With some locals, we arrived at a certain level of intimacy and friendship, entering into their homes or workplaces and hearing their histories, developing a more intimate portrait of individual lives. Other locals were simply encountered on the streets and lent their faces and voices to us as a portraits of friendship developed in "passing-by". The city also sat for her own portrait in its architecture, its traditions, its commerce and hustle, as well as its sounds.
Special thanks to Erica Tighe for her translations and companionship without which this project wouldn't have been possible.
Portrait One: Sound
While portraits typically take visual form, communicating form, color, personality, and sociological context, what does it mean to paint a black portrait illuminated only through sound. Close your eyes and imagine the Cuba being presented through the vernacular sounds of the city, the music, the voices.
Portrait Two: Type
Tying Los Angeles to Havana through the thread of a gaze.
If we were to create a portrait of a city, often times our thoughts would go to the people who inhabit it, the buildings that line its streets, the cars that drive through its spiderweb of metropolitan planning or even the trees that line its boulevards. But what about that sign that flickers with light above the gas station signaling a place of respite for a traveler in the night? What about the painted letterforms on the glass of the barbershop announcing the going rate for a fresh fade? The vernacular language of the signage of our cities paints a unique and personal portrait of the culture, history, and politics of urban life. The personality of the city’s people, their priorities and ideologies, may well be identified by a simple walk down three blocks of a neighborhood street.
Can the same happen in our native city? Can we overcome the jadedness of our daily experience? What if we simply stepped beyond the borders of our front doors and out onto our very own streets? What if we opened our eyes as infinite wells to be filled with glorious new sights and fascinating details, staving off the tempting habit to expect the mundane in our everyday experience? What more is travel than our ability to open our eyes wider and, upon returning home, use our wide eyes to see and appreciate anew our “ordinary” lives. To practice the art of noticing.
Upon returning to Los Angeles after being enchanted by the signage throughout Havana, I explored my own neighborhood on foot and discovered and documented typographic treasures I had never noticed before.
Dimensions: 5.625 x 7.825", 104 pagesPrinted by: Nonstop Printing, Hollywood CA
Portrait Three: Home in the Details
The rich meaning we assign to the details of our environment and encounters is amplified during our foreign travels. Yet, our heightened awareness to these details at all occurs because it first takes place in our daily navigation of life. With much less awareness, we attach meaning to details in our daily lives, perhaps without even knowing.
Why? Because we anchor our love in the details.
The way your partner clears his or her throat before speaking. The sight of your neighbor watering her garden. The color of the leaves adorning the tree at the end of your street. The sound of the ice cream truck making its evening rounds.
We delight in the details abroad largely because at home they are the sinew of love and belonging.
Dimensions: 11 x 14", 52 pagesPrinted by: Newspaper Club, Glasgow
Portrait Four: Interviews
1. Alexandra 2. Luis Molina3. Nelson Poncé
Double Booklet WrapDimensions: 6.25 x 8.75", self-printed and bound
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