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The VCFA MFA in Graphic Design Program Blog

Irene & Louisa: Typographic Prototypes for the Pluriverse

June 3, 2022

Join us for a free, public presentation by graphic designer, scholar, and educator Laura Rossi García (GD ’16) as part of the 2022 Typographics Conference. The conference will be held both online and at The Cooper Union in NYC, and this lecture will be presented live on Zoom.

Wednesday, June 15 | 6:30-7:30pm ET.    Register in advance!

 

About the Presentation

“Letterforms are loaded cultural objects”

As a container for language, typography is both implicit and explicit in its role in upholding or disrupting dynamics of power. How can typography serve as a way to reframe (past), shape (present), and imagine (futures)? This presentation includes two prototypes that explore typography as a vehicle for storytelling and voice: Irene, which makes space and brings to the fore the work of artist, designer, and educator Irene Delano; and Louisa, an attestation to the typewriter’s role in women’s entry to the American corporate labor force. Through “hearing one another’s voices, recognizing one another’s presence,” 2 we can begin to shift towards a pluriverse.

 

Citations:

1 Shehab, Bahia and Haytham Nawar. “Early Arabic Printing” in A History of Arab Graphic Design. American University in Cairo Press: 2020.

2 hooks, bell. Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom. Routledge, New York: 1994.