Subversion: A Poster

As mentioned in my previous post, I selected a few words that I felt best represented my initial understanding of subversion. From a government/organisation point of view, subversion would be considered a bad thing. As my current research is largely about political subversion I thought this is the route I should take.

Overthrow

Secret

Disobey

Criminal

Unrest

Bribery

Blackmail

Warfare

Traitor

Unknown

I selected these as I felt they covered potentially subversive acts, the potential goals of a subversive, the reasons for the subversion and how the subversive would be seen and described by the system they were attempting to subvert.

I started by simply listing the words. I felt white on black with a bold fold allowed the words to be the key focal point of the piece.

I wanted to add the word subversion as that is the link between these words but didn't want it to be obvious. If subversion is supposed to be hidden within then I wanted to attempt to almost hide it in the image.

This is very simple as a piece of work. Limited thought, not much going on. It's just words on a page. I felt I needed to do something I wouldn't normally do. I decided maybe to mess with the type which is something I wouldn't normally do. I like to follow type rules and am careful when I pull apart letters. The result is the image below. I split the type in half so it sat on either side of the page. Subversion is now hidden in the back across three lines. The words are difficult to read this way and it just didn't seem right to me.

Instead, I decided to change the kerning. All text with slightly different kerning but with a purpose. The purpose that the text covers the page, making subversion more hidden behind. This creates a grid of letters, still readable but despite them being the clear and bold letters, subversion slips into focus. Not a finished piece of work but I feel it is a starting point and has got me making things.