Formal Component Analysis
I created a “book” about 20 pages long on loose paper during my undergraduate
degree. It consists of smooth, thin black paper on 10 pages, and thick, rough, gray
handmade paper for the other 10. The entire thing can be displayed in a few ways. Kept
in the shallow black box and gone through page by page, so the viewer can see all
sides of the pages at once, or the pages put up on a wall and taking up space but hiding
the backs of the pages. The black pages consist of repeated words corresponding with
the words in the PTSD acronym, with family pictures attached to them. The handmade
paper consists of symptoms and their descriptions hand printed letter by letter. As well,
the paper is recycled from old works, bringing a hidden meaning to the work itself. The
work was supposed to talk about my experience with trauma and my PTSD diagnosis. I
do believe the work does this well.
Visually, the work is interesting as there is a lot going on. Even though there is no
color outside of a black and white scale, it is still able to hold a viewer's attention. The
repeated patterns of words and the images help bring in the viewers attention. As well,
the look of the handmade paper, with pieces of their original form still showing, adds a
lot of visual interest to the work. Though the work is technically black and white, pieces
of colorful paper show through the gray. One of the good things about recycled paper is
the visual and tactile texture of the surface.
The feeling of the handmade paper by whoever is holding it also gives a good
tactile sensation. It is rough, but also smooth in some parts where the paper settled flat.
The backs have a specific texture gained from the mesh used to create them. It also
gives a good contrast to the smooth, thin black paper in how it feels and looks. This
paper was commercially made, so the surface is uniform and without flaws. These two
very different tactile sensations help bring some interest in the work. The box that holds
the paper is not very visually nor tacitly interesting, which is another contrast in this
work.
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