FROM CLAY

I've always had an interest in ethics, especially in relation to humanity. This book allowed me to trace how human intervention has shaped life through genetic engineering practices like selective breeding, as well as a cautionary tale of taking responsibility.

The title of the book was inspired by the creationist myth of life from clay. It plays into the concept of humanity playing God and the results of it.

A quote from the Qur'an 23:12 that says "Man we did create from a quintessence of clay"

This overlay effect is inspired by the process of alizarin red/alcian blue staining. Instead of separating bone from cartilage, these images separate the before and after of what an organism has (or could) become as consequence of genetic engineering.

A spread from "From Clay". It has a pug with a wolf skull overlaid.

I wanted to use collaged imagery as a parallel to grafting (another form of genetic engineering). Both require cutting out parts of a whole and combining them to create something new.

A spread from "From Clay". It has a collaged flower.

I selected Baskerville URW and Mr Eaves for my book because it reinforces the idea of change through generations of human input. Mr Eaves is an iteration of Mrs Eaves, which is based on Baskerville.

Baskerville URW and Mr Eaves Mod OT set in their typefaces.

I designed the book to be interrupted by spreads of a poem. It's utilized carefully to build anticipation for the book's context, juxtaposing plant and animal genetic modification with eugenics.

A spread from "From Clay". A quote from a poem about eugenics reads "Defectives will breed defectives, and the insane breed insane".

I chose to use the familiar symbols of pedigree charts to act as framing devices and wordless narratives of genetic ties. They connect concepts together, even if they are completely dissimilar.

The square and circle language throughout the book represent the mother and father. This symbol on the back of the book symbolizes the convoluted process of genetic engineering and the way origins can become blurred.

A symbol that looks like a knot, representing the mother and father.

I designed my layout to emphasize diagonals, which represent the helices of DNA and RNA. It also created tension in the space, forcing a push and pull.

A spread from "From Clay". It has a poem about eugenics on it. It reads,
"Go to some homes in the village, look at the garden beds, the cabbage, the lettuce, the turnips,"

The book is handbook sized: easy to carry around, similar to a field journal used in scientific studies. I selected French link book binding to serve as an abstract representation of chromosomes.

WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO
Tracey Shiffman / Bella Wang / A1 Bookbinding / Typecraft / Marina Graphic Center