For my midterm project, I want to escape from the computer screen and work in a medium that has the potential to be larger format, more tactile, and less ethereal. Using the text mirror example from Learning Processing as a departure point, I am working on a Processing program that will allow me to create high resolution image files that will allow me to print a series large format posters. Perhaps it is easier to show than to tell, so here is an example of a work in progress.
I started with the iconic image of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square. Then I redrew the image using the text of the The Little Red Book.
Here is a close up:
I still have some work to do to address the spacing issues around the punctuation marks, which creates too much black space. Ultimately, I intend to provoke a dialogue about the relationship between text and images, especially in the Chinese ideographic writing system, as well as explore the the roles that text and images play in political propaganda and the construction of ideology.