from my eyez//do u understand?
from my eyez, do u understand…me?
From My Eyez//Do U Understand is a 10 piece, exhibited, illustration series that seeks to portray how I see the world around me. The illustrations were exhibited within the Stella Gallery at Tyler School of Art & Architecture and came with a zine that contained an 8 stanza poem which provided literary context to the entire exhibit. Much like a mini booklet that comes with an album package.
I did this project because I wanted to give people a piece of myself and show who I am as a complex individual. I wanted them to view my portfolio not just as a collection of cool projects and homages to numerous interests, but as a cohesive story of the person, Ade. This project was the perfect way to accomplish that goal.
visual and typographic decisions
Visually, I initially wanted to implement a mixed media approach that was visually arresting yet narratively sensitive and composed. Like when you hear the song “Gorgeous” by Kanye West. I also wanted to print these illustrations big and have them utilize the space they’re given to truly immerse people into my world.
Typographically, I wanted to be sparse and only use type as a means of providing contextual narrative layers to the illustrations. My choice in typeface also reflected this as I only used Times New Roman, Bebas Neue and my own hand lettered type.
For the zine, I wanted it to carry the same visual and typographic aesthetics, yet serve as a more minimalist compliment so as to not overwhelm the audience but still contain visually interesting design. .
The Zine
Creating the exhibit space
When thinking of how I wanted to utilize my exhibit space, I concluded that I wanted the space to represent the human mind and experience. When I think about how we as individuals get to know each other, we begin with their surface level expressions. What do they like? What do they hate? What are their political beliefs? What are their religious beliefs? How do they identify?
Then, once a more intimate bond is formed, we get into their more intimate thoughts and expressions: Who do they believe they are? Do they believe in love? How do they process grief? How do they make sense of the world around them?
To emulate this train of thought, I laid out my more surface level/socio-political pieces on the first wall that patrons would come and see initially and then I laid out my more sensitive and personal pieces within the secluded nook area that patrons would see once they fully entered the space.
The zines were then placed in the center of the nook area atop a white pedestal so once the patrons entered the more sensitive area (and by proxy the end of the exhibit), they would be able to read the zine and come to a full understanding of the underlying message and themes of the exhibit—all to the sound of a monotone lofi hip hop instrumental which played quietly in the background and served as an atmosphere setter. Now if patrons wished to re-visit certain pieces or the exhibit as a whole, they could do so with the newly-established context the zines provided.