A typographic exploration of the now lost custom of foot binding.
This book presents a typographic exploration of the now lost custom of foot binding, a custom which dominated a long period of Chinese history. The foot binding tradition was riddled with contradictions between sensuality and mutilation. These contradictions are shown through expressive type with Chinese characters wrapping around English letterforms, warping them out of shape, dominating and deforming Western ideas of beauty. Within the book, tip ins decrease in length and wrap over each other as reference to the contorted feet and bandages in the process.
To add a level of humanity to the piece, the focus was shifted from the gruesome aspects of the practice to the using expressive typography, illustration and photographs of the women themselves to pay homage to their histories and stories.
This piece was made in response to the ISTD Lost brief. It achieved the ISTD membership with Merit.
Project
Lost Lotus
Institution
Massey University
Wellington, New Zealand
Duration
8 weeks