The relationship between us and material underpins Gemma’s practice. The intimate interaction we have with books, viewing the book as object, is used to manipulate how users and readers, engage and experience with what is produced. Her work becomes situated at the intersection between language, the written word and image. Interrogating the space that occupies where these abstract forms can overlap, pushes what can be defined as a publisher. In constructing work to be tangible, tactile, and engaging, her sensitive approach, grounds such concepts into poetic and subtle work.
The projects showcased, Publishing my Dissertation and #pixelatinglockdown, both investigate our relationship to the book.
My dissertation publication, titled, ‘An exploration into how needlework, typically a silent craft, has been used by women to gain a voice’ explores the key concepts discussed throughout the text; the relationship between silence and voice and our relationship to touch. The emphasis on the physical nature of the publication enables it to become a tangible object and allows the reading of the dissertation to be navigated materially.
The publication #pixelatinglockdown, reinterprets existing content from the Historic England collection via the #picturinglockdown on Instagram, which presents a collective documentation of the mundane and the everyday. In changing the image’s visual state, the publication aims to change the way we visualise the mundane.
