cathy nguyen
advancement41.JPG

letters between us (2018)

Interested in topics of loss, I found an archive of photographs of my mother, who passed away when I was four years old. I never got to know her, or speak to her; I don't even know what the sound of her voice was like. To bridge this gap between me and someone who I should be close to, I wanted to express this desire for closeness through writing, in some way. 

I took these photographs and masked them into letterforms, specifically in the Helvetica typeface. Helvetica was designed as a modern typeface in the 20th century for its legibility, and neutrality; ironically, it has become co-opted as the iconic look of capital culture–we can see this typeface used by many companies today. Wanting to destabilize this look of cold neutrality with intimate material, I masked these photographs into the letterforms, which then began a series of investigations into printmaking and printing.

I wanted to see how I could print this design in interesting ways, so I decided to utilize lasercutting in my process for the first time. I explored many trials of etching my design onto acrylic, which I eventually mounted onto wood to create my own movable type of the design.

Below are process photos of my creations. I printed one set of A-Z by hand in the intaglio process, and another set through letterpress. Words were then created with the movable type set, used to describe my relationship to my mother.

letters between us
2017–Ongoing
Print series

This print series was inspired by old photographs of my mother, who passed away when I was four years old. Struggling to find language to describe my relationship to someone I should be close to, I wanted to explore a way to process and “write” our relationship into existence. 

Thinking about this difficulty of words, I masked these old photos of her and us together into letterforms. I specifically chose to utilize the typeface Helvetica, which was designed as a modern typeface in the 20th century for its legibility and neutrality, though it has become co-opted as the look of capital culture today. Wanting to destabilize this look of corporatization and neutrality with intimately human material, this juxtaposition inspired me to investigate the imagery of these letterforms through printing.

The letterforms I designed were fabricated onto acrylic, slowly laser-etched with the photos I masked within. These forms were then mounted type-high onto wood to create my own movable type of the design. These ghost-like prints are part of a large series that consists of language related to loss, longing, and the struggle to articulate.

Below are process photos of my creations. I printed one set of A-Z by hand in the intaglio process, and another set through letterpress.