A delicate sight
I have been drawing for the last 20 years as a way to explore how language fails us. Initially working within artist books and letterform, drawing became central to my practice as I moved between both literate and haptic languages. Mark making, asemic writing and studio actions became primary ways in which I work.
Sometimes living in complete blackout – the body, breath and touch inform most drawings. The subject matter focuses on retinal after images or portraying functions that are often buried in the unconscious. For ‘drawing breath’, a durational work where a pencil line records the length of every exhalation, I spent a 15 hour day marking the shoreline between the bodies automatic function and regulated voluntarily control.
With ‘a delicate sight’, I spent a month living and drawing in blackout. Over 672 hours I created 3 large scale unseen drawings. Following which I invited a group of the UKs leading writers (including Raymond Antrobus, Bernardine Evaristo and Max Porter) to do darkness residences, in which they spent a period of time in complete blackout. These physical residences generated drawings and texts that explored both the physical reality of darkness and also its wider cultural associations.
Sam Winston’s practice is concerned with language not only as a carrier of messages but also as a visual form in and of itself. Initially known for his typography and artist’s books, he employs a variety of different approaches including drawing, performance and poetry.
Operating at the intersections of where visual culture and literature meet, he has exhibited his work in museums and galleries around the world. Tate Britain, the British Library, the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C and MoMA NYC, among others, hold his artist’s books in their permanent collections. Projects involving drawings, and installations have taken place at institutes such as The Victoria and Albert Museum, The Courtauld Institute of Art, and The Whitechapel Gallery.
His first mass-market book in collaboration with Oliver Jeffers won the Bologna Ragazzi Award for fiction, debuted at no.5 on the New York Times Bestseller List and has been translated into 22 languages. All Winston’s projects look to introduce audiences to new ways of thinking about and engaging with language.
Literatura recomendada
Jamme, F. A., Padoux, A., Berkson, B., Rinder, L., & Tweed, M. (2011). Tantra Song. Distributed Art Pub Incorporated.
Mirtha Dermisache: Selected Writings. (2018). Siglio/Ugly Duckling Presse.
The history of writing BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mtml
Morton, T. (2018). Being Ecological. The MIT Press.
ESTE TRABALHO É FINANCIADO POR FUNDOS NACIONAIS ATRAVÉS DA FCT – FUNDAÇÃO PARA A CIÊNCIA E A TECNOLOGIA, I.P., NO ÂMBITO DO PROJETO “UIDB/04042/2020”