This week I developed a combination of two previous experiments, the constellation and the typographic exercise.
The goal was to create four, newspaper-sized visuals that encompassed the design choices made by the newspaper cover that inspired them, but also transcended the paper to become narratives of grief and overwhelming loss.
Each is composed of a short quote from the Walt Whitman essay over a black background, and uses words and dots to speaks to a specific aspect of how humans both feel about and rationalize death.
The first plays with the dichotomy of opposites, of black and white, the here and there, life and afterlife. The words on the page refer to the ubiquity of the dead, their repetition creating an infinite pattern that is self-reflexive of the content.
The second is an American flag made up simply of the words, ‘The Infinite Dead’ repeated, blurred, and backlit for effect.
The third outcome speaks to the idea of darkness, a void, the empty space of a deceased loved one. The words are stark, “the dead, the dead, the dead – our dead,” calling for a recognition of the dead and empathy for the living.
The last outcome is evocative of outer space, a constellation of stars and words arranged into a form, winged, bright and powerful.
Using grief as a lens to examine the pandemic, it is possible to understand the narratives and reactions that arose in its wake. Our book, “An Incalculable Loss,” does just that, preserving the story of the pandemic, while also subverting the form of the newspaper story that inspired it.
To begin with, anticipatory grief can be seen as a driving force of disinformation. Denial becomes a coping mechanism, allowing people to channel their grief into something that feels active and gives them back their sense of control.
Anticipatory grief also ties into the escapist behaviors if lockdown; people filling their time with mundane activities, so as not to confront the anger, frustration and fear of the loss of general safety.
Real grief, as experienced by those who lost a loved one, plays a central role in the narrative of the pandemic, as well as the bereavement of survivors whose lives are irrevocably altered by lingering disabilities caused by the disease.