2018
Artist’s book: letterpress from metal type, polymer plates
16” x 10” x 0.25”
My work is concerned with the hidden, structural beauty of language. Language is a deeply human trait that we use in every aspect of our lives, though its workings are largely mysterious to us as speakers. My work draws attention to those patterns deep in our minds and the rich, varied beauty they contain. I explore the systems of language that we use so effortlessly—phonetics, syntax, semantics, etc.—through prints and print-based installations. Each piece isolates an aspect of a language or a text and creates a visual correlate of its structure, generating imagery from the linguistics of the text itself. Iteration, recursion, combination via rules, variations on patterns—these concepts are foundational to the way our minds process language. Representing these processes through printmaking, with its inherent iteration, sequence, and serial variation, gives a physical analogy to the complex beauty of our linguistic knowledge.
Sarah Hulsey, Somerville, Massachusetts