01: 'Shirt'
or
'Proposal for a Story'
With this project, I propose that text is as strong a visual as an image. A small assortment of lines and negative spaces speaks to us all in a universal language, yet has the potential to resurface memories and emotions unique to each of us. One of the first times I felt this way was when I saw Jenny Holzer’s Inflammatory Essays, a series of 100-word essays she printed as posters to be hung around Manhattan. Each essay barks at the reader, sometimes with a tone of nihilistic camaraderie, about classism, drug abuse, sexual violence, and war. What was most striking about these posters was how she wrote them. It’s Times New Roman in Bold Italic. The letters felt dignified and deranged all at once. When they’re made to accent a bold italic format, the serifs look like bows on a bullet. While I could only relate to parts of the essays at 15 years old, I really connected with the tension of trying to find something to love about a society that wasn’t set up to accept you. When I read the words “DON’T TALK DOWN TO ME” in that remarkable font, I was changed. I started writing those words, in that way, all over my desks, the walls, and bathroom stalls. I figured that if the shape of a word from the 1980’s could affect me so intensely forty years later, maybe this universal dialogue could reach someone else who really needed to hear it.
Inflammatory Essays, 1979-81, Jenny Holzer
Ink on cotton
To demonstrate my proposal, I am creating t-shirts without any form of imagery. Words are centered on the bust and written in fabric ink on a standard, plain, white t-shirt. Our clothing can be a canvas for who we think we are, who we want other people to think we are; often using rich fabrics, bright colors, innovative silhouettes to tell the story of ‘us’. I’m interested in derailing that story by seeing whether text alone is a more authentic expression of our identities. A work that really inspired me to do this was Kim Gordon’s Boyfriend series of ready-made sculptures, where she painted denim miniskirts with black gesso. The tar-like texture disrupts whatever message the miniskirt was meant to send and forces the viewer to form a new understanding of the object. What excites me about gesso on jeans or words on t-shirts is that it's deceptively simple. The regular, everyday items and words we use have so much emotional depth just by existing, and I want to show that with my t-shirts.
Untitled (fron the 'Boyfriend' series), 2012, Kim Gordon
