Tow pieces of drawing work created for Typojanchi, the 5th International Typography Biennale in Seoul, responding to the prompt of Body and Typography

Both pieces respond to the venue, Seoul Central Station’s former waiting room. A waiting room’s structure, rows of chairs, signage, the suppression of activity, can be likened to a typographic grid in which letters and words are ordered into meaning. Typography and words create authority and authority impacts the body. Crimes can be sanctioned by good design in any era. Signs which ask for compliance for reasons of safety and security may hide unpalatable truths.

‘For your Comfort and Security…’ references the Korean women still waiting for an apology for their enforced sexual slavery as ‘comfort women’ during the second world war. The words ‘comfort women’ create an alternative truth for the bodies of women during the war.

‘Colored Waiting Room’ evokes segregationist era United States, where signage upheld the legal separation of blacks and whites. Such a sign has a physical impact on a body, classifying and ordering it into socially acceptable formations.