Illiteracy.
Photo credit: Alamy.com
Identity.
Photo credit: fbi.gov
Art.
Fingerprint on paper, Saul Steinberg. Passport Photo, 1953.
Photo credit: http://saulsteinbergfoundation.org/essay/fingerprints/
It’s a matter of perspective, and of application.
Perspective is present in every experience, event, and composition: it involves a viewer, the viewed, and the interrelation between the two. And application is the purpose assigned to a perspective.
Form and function are outcomes of application. Form is artistic and function is utilitarian. Form alters thought, and function influences behaviour.
Next time you switch off the lights instead of leaving them on, or choose to speak up when you hear derogatory phrases that objectify women, you will have applied a perspective—you will have assigned functional purpose to your words and actions, and you will have reconstructed thought. You will have done what creators and artists do.
In Kyo and Obi, we have consciously applied a perspective that favours harmony and co-existence in storytelling and book production. Expressed artistically in the style of drawing, and functionally in the choice of paper and the method of printing.
We have created the drawings in the story using the simplicity, versatility and expressive ability of line work. The charm of curved lines integrated with the dynamism of sharp lines endorses our commitment to harmony, and broad swatches of single colour reduce the use of ink, while communicating cohesiveness. The paper is made from waste cotton, the images are etched on recyclable plates, and the printing is done largely using solar power and harvested rainwater.
Our perspective has taken form. Hope yours does too.
Kyo and Obi 