MODELS FOR A VISUAL NOVEL

I've experienced a connection between books and cinema for as long as I can remember. When I design a book I’m interested in activating its kinetic and spatial possibilities. What I’ve discovered is that these ephemeral, cinematographic qualities are not effects imposed on books by movies but an untapped potential inherent in the codex form itself. I’ve searched but haven’t found an existing book that weaves images and text into the kind of immersive reading experience I desire. This is what motivates me to make the book I imagine could be, to write with images.

This site presents some of the early models for my visual-novel-in-process. I first presented these prototypes at the conference Memory, Word and Image: W.G. Sebald’s Artistic Legacies, at the University of Amsterdam.

Over the past several years, I have developed a way of working with existing printed photographic images using two distinct but related book models or prototypes. These models have served as a type of drafting, allowing me to experiment and intuitively map out potential directions for my novel. The process has expanded my understanding of the narrative potential of sequential images in books and allowed me to arrive at the form my novel has ultimately taken. In both cases the process began with intensive collecting.

Postcard Book Models: I collected picture postcards from the early 20th century, which I used uncropped as full-page images to create extended sequences through intensive sorting, matching and juxtaposition. Folded Bookwork Models: I sourced inexpensive mid-century photobooks from thriftstores on which I performed the chance operation of folding to crop the full-page images, conceal text pages and transform the shape of the book object.

You won’t find an extensive portfolio of my work as a book designer on this website, or any of my editorial design work for magazines and newspapers, but, in addition to some of my book models, I have selected examples of exhibition catalogues and monographs I designed for art galleries and museums specifically for their influence on the direction my current novel project. As my work progresses I will continue to share aspects of the process here.

———————————

My essay, "Writing with Images," which explores the sequential and cinematic qualities of visual books, was published in Issue 192 of the Canadian book arts journal Amphora. It was adapted and expanded from a talk I gave at The Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada.