anatomy of letters

icelandic alphabet

Spark Design Space announces the opening of an exhibition by graphic designer Sigrún Rún Kristinsdóttir, the recent recipient of the Art Directors Club of Europe student prize for her book Anatomy of Letters. In the book, which started as a graduation project at the Iceland Academy of Arts in 2012, Sigridur Rún brought to life seven letters of the alphabet by treating them as living organisms, giving them an anatomy as well as behavioural patterns and history.

For this exhibition at Spark Design Space, Sigríður Rún has created bone structures for all the letters of the Icelandic Alphabet, based on her investigations of the anatomy of humans and animals. She uses mainly the bone structures of birds, prehistoric dinosaurs and prehistoric birds as a reference while the handwriting is based on one of the oldest preserved Icelandic manuscripts, Egils saga Skallagrímssonar, from around A.D. 1250.

The word Anatomy is used to explain the bodily structures of living beings, but is also known in typography where it is used to explain the structure of letters. Sigríður Rún uses as her literal starting point this common ground between these two different subjects with the objective of emphasising letters as bodily objects rather than symbols.

In presenting these anatomical letters Sigríður Rún borrows visual language normally reserved for scientific objects and facts, such as the use of a glass box to present a skeleton in a natural history museum, as well as using drawings and information in the style of old academic text books. Because of this, her presentation of the letters becomes so persuasive that the viewer becomes confused and starts to believe that the letters of the alphabet really used to be living organisms.

Sigríður Rún has said that "The imagination is what human beings have at their disposal to create something new. Some people have better access to their imagination than others, but this project stretches the facts about the origin of letters to a point where everyone can relate to it. When the facts become unclear, that is the real test of whether the viewer can handle the creation. Those who are open and allow themselves a glance of this world can enjoy it in the same way that I do. The rest will see beautiful drawings presented in a way that reminds them of old times, but they will not necessarily understand the premise."

The exhibition consists of 41 prints as well as a poster depicting all the letters of the alphabet. The prints are for sale at Spark | Design Space individually, or together as a set, signed, but in an open edition, as is the nature of the letters themselves.

As is often the case, teachers and professionals who are open-minded and prepared to share their knowledge often give off the spark that ignites great student projects. This project was sparked by a guest lecturer at the Iceland Academy of Arts, Lajos Major from Hungary, and encouraged by Guðarður Már Gunnlaugsson, an expert in ancient manuscripts at the Árni Magnússon Institute.

letters