TYPELondon

In this workshop we created a map of a small section of London using type, which was then stitched together to create a 'Type-map' of a relatively large area of London:

I found this use of type interesting an inspiring, and began to look further into typographic maps and landscapes.

I then thought about the concept of the typographic portrait, that is, using type as a means of mapping out a face, as used by studios such as Stephan Sagmeister and Music.

I began to explore how I could use the human face and type as a means of mapping the essence of London.

Whilst I initially began experimenting with mapping political manifestos onto the faces of David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg, I decided against this approach for a couple of reasons:

a) I found an existing example of the 3 leaders' faces mapped out in type taken from their manifestos

b) I questioned how much the faces of the 'Big 3' really summed up and captured the essence of the streets of London.

In my monoprint development work I had decided to photograph a number of London's homeless, and it dawned on me that these people would be the perfect way of figuring a map of London - people who were almost synonymous with the streets themselves.

As I mentioned in my development work for Monoprint, I was inspired by the work of B&W studio and their use of stark, direct photographic portraits and hard-hitting, honest real-life stories. I decided to experiment with combining the portrait with the story and so as I photographed the homeless people I met I also interviewed them and discovered their backgrounds, eg, Brian:

"I live in Victoria, been there about..er..16 years? selling the Big issue on and off. I became homeless just because of a bad divorce and mental breakdown I 'spose. I was living with my wife and then it all went pear-shaped; started drinking too much and things just fell apart from there. I was working at the time and I lost my job because of the drinking, lost my flat, 'cause I couldn't keep up with the rent, and my flatmates couldn't put up with all the mood swings and that so I got chucked out of there and ended up roughing it on the street. My plan for the future is to get off the street - I'm waiting for somewhere now at the moment and as soon as that comes up I should be on the move - get somewhere to live and then get a job. That's the dream."

I then took the most pertinent aspects of the story and have begun to experimenting using it in type form to paint Brian's portrait...

Obviously, it needs refinement but I'm happy with the way these type portraits are developing and ideally would like to produce 2 or 3 for my book.