Illuminations
“Illuminations”, consists of found handwritten letters that are digitally manipulated to resemble illuminated manuscripts from the 16th century. They are printed on to a cotton paper with gold leaf hand applied to sections of the letter. All color and textures that are added to the image are comprised from a palette of scans made from bookbinding material, body parts and other found paper such as paper towels. There is no direct color in the image from the Photoshop color palette. None of the text has been digitally altered or added.
Text in two of the pieces consist of a letter written by a high school girl, bored in study hall she expresses her love and lust for her boyfriend. Her boyfriend writes a rap song in response. The letters, lost from their original authors, are now embellished with ornamentation unique to the style of the illuminated manuscript. The idiosyncratic nature of handwriting is displayed as both object and knowledge. Images adorn the spaces between letters and words marking speech into space.
