Incision
"Incision" is a book that tells a story about bodily impermanence through three separate archives: written documentations of surgery, MRI scans from
The Cancer Imaging Archive ↗
, and photographs from
Francesca Woodman’s ↗
body of work.
Designed with an intensive layout strategy, the composition, typography, and images work together to reveal relationships between the content.
COMBINING EVERYTHING TOGETHER
Integrating the jargon-filled, technical medical data with Woodman’s poetic and romantic photos was the biggest challenge in making this book. I approached this by having the focus first lay on the surgical, verb-heavy portions of the transcriptions to emphasize the fleshy malleability and temporality of bodies. In conjunction with the text, the following spread displays an MRI close up and a related photograph from Woodman side-by- side. Referencing the type of surgery performed, the images play off of each other to tell a visual narrative of internal and external vulnerability.
DESIGN SYSTEM
Grid Layout: The contents of this book are all set within a nine column grid to visually transform a “wall” of complex information into an easily understandable composition. The styling decisions, including the contrasting type sizes, whitespace, and type hierarchy, stem from the clean aesthetic of poetry manuscripts, emphasizing the narrative purpose of the subject.
Designed with an intensive layout strategy, the composition, typography, and images work together to reveal relationships between the content.
COMBINING EVERYTHING TOGETHER
Integrating the jargon-filled, technical medical data with Woodman’s poetic and romantic photos was the biggest challenge in making this book. I approached this by having the focus first lay on the surgical, verb-heavy portions of the transcriptions to emphasize the fleshy malleability and temporality of bodies. In conjunction with the text, the following spread displays an MRI close up and a related photograph from Woodman side-by- side. Referencing the type of surgery performed, the images play off of each other to tell a visual narrative of internal and external vulnerability.
DESIGN SYSTEM
Grid Layout: The contents of this book are all set within a nine column grid to visually transform a “wall” of complex information into an easily understandable composition. The styling decisions, including the contrasting type sizes, whitespace, and type hierarchy, stem from the clean aesthetic of poetry manuscripts, emphasizing the narrative purpose of the subject.
TYPOGRAPHY
All text is set in Univers, a neo-grotesque sans-serif, compact and neutral to compliment the clinical and invasive nature of the content. Titles are set in Univers 67 Bold Condensed, both headers and pull-out quotes appear in Univers 57 Condensed, and Univers 55 Roman is used for all body copy.
RESULTS & REFLECTIONS
This archive was a method to examine how books function through a system of interrelated parts; creating an event out of what previously was scattered content, now comes together to express a synthesis of personal curiosities.
With this book, I wanted to create a piece of work that brought my interests about the body, both in clinical studies and in art, together as a story. The words of surgery give prominence to the idea that the human body is delicate, vulnerable, and elicits visceral reactions. Similarly, albeit in a much more explicitly poetic way, Francesca Woodman’s photographs invoke an almost identical conclusion about bodies and physical form. The MRI scans really lie somewhere in the middle of beautiful and clinical—assisting the relationship between the art and the documentation.
This archive was a method to examine how books function through a system of interrelated parts; creating an event out of what previously was scattered content, now comes together to express a synthesis of personal curiosities.
With this book, I wanted to create a piece of work that brought my interests about the body, both in clinical studies and in art, together as a story. The words of surgery give prominence to the idea that the human body is delicate, vulnerable, and elicits visceral reactions. Similarly, albeit in a much more explicitly poetic way, Francesca Woodman’s photographs invoke an almost identical conclusion about bodies and physical form. The MRI scans really lie somewhere in the middle of beautiful and clinical—assisting the relationship between the art and the documentation.