In Short: It is About Reality
Four-fold zine (mini-publication) with a fold-out poster
Project Type: Independent student project
Role: Graphic Designer
Tools: Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign & Image Archives from the Toronto Reference Library
I designed a zine publication with scanned images from the Toronto Reference Library and Hilto Steyerl's In Defense of the Poor Image published in E-Flux Journal (2009). Working with a central theme of reference, I decided to focus on the idea of the 'poor image' as being a copied, reproduced, and remixed image that references its 'original' image. I curated imagery that relates to the history of photography, media depictions of identity, and advertising.
I feature excerpts of Steyerl's article with scanned and photoshopped images of historical photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson and Cecil Beaton, with advertisements such as Absolut Vodka. The text and images work together to visually mimic the copying and remixing of the 'poor' image within the publication itself. I applied a flat colour and grain effect to the images to visually depict the low quality of 'poor' images. In the un-folded poster, I feature an image that I copied three times. There is progressively more grain with each copy, as a metaphor for the 'poor image' being a 'copy in motion advertisements such as Absolut Vodka. The text and images work together to visually demonstrate the copying and remixing of the 'poor' image within the publication itself. I applied a flat colour and grain effect to the images to visually depict the low quality of 'poor' images. In the un-folded poster, I feature an image that I copied three times, with progressively more grain with each copy, and is a metaphor for the 'poor image' being a 'copy in motion'.
Within the inner panels of the publication, I highlight key sentences in the colour magenta that I also incorporate into the fold-out poster. I intended to compile these select sentences of the text in the poster to create a non-linear narrative. The non-linear narrative emerged from copying and remixing the text so that the text itself becomes a reference to the characteristics of a 'poor image’.