TREE OF CODES. 29.05.10
last friday, i went to work with sara de bondt , a belgian graphic designer currently based out of dalston in east london, on prototypes for her most recent project. 
de bondt’s work often appears as typographic and editorial-based works imbued with a refreshing sense of humour. i was extremely excited to help work on any prototype for a book her studio was working on. however, it was only once i arrived that i found out out it was for jonathan safran foer’s most recent book, tree of codes. jonathan safran foer’s extremely loud and incredibly close happens to be one of my all-time favorite books and being a vegetarian (for sustainable reasons) myself, i have been look forward to delving into eating animals (haha, that sounds like i would like to eat animals…i wouldn’t.)
…so getting to work on a book for safran foer was perhaps one of the best surprises i could have received.
the work is an interesting exploration and re-appropriation of one of safran foer’s favorite books, the street of crocodiles by bruno schulz. by cutting out select phrases and words from the story, foer creates a unique, albeit perplexing, narrative that, much like his other works, is extremely complex and intriguing in content.
we spent the day physically cutting out each unwanted section of text that foer had highlighted, with our scalpels in hand. oddly therapeutic, the day resulted in a final sculptural work of literary elegance.
even with the hand-cramping it was, overall, an excellent day.
