Haegue Yang is a South Korean artist primarily working in sculpture and installation. Yang is known for using utilitarian household items and exploring meaning they can take on outside of their typical functional uses. Her installations often engage multiple senses by incorporating lights, smells, sounds, and tactile materials that reorient and recalibrate the viewers’ perception. Common themes that appear are displacement, itinerancy, familiarity, and estrangement.
Since the displacement of mundane objects is one of her specialties, the decision was made to intentionally emphasis it by referencing to her installation Blind Curtain—Flesh Behind Tricolore, 2013 – the use of aluminum venetian blinds and frame. Hence, I wanted to connect the blinds to a future book cover, while having a layout reflecting her style. The main aim was finding the way to make the audience feel and experience it as if they attended her “own” museum of work.
The whole process started from getting to know her life, work, vision, tone - all the components that need to be considered when creating a book that is supposed to reflect one’s personality. The visualization of the cover came to me once the research was completed, and it all fell into place. Her incredible work with the venetian blinds inspired me to create the same sense of space and depth she was capturing in her installations.
During the process I understood how all the small details are important on the page of a book. They are just meant to be there, no mistakes allowed. In my case the result amalgamated from the polished cover that set the tone and grid for inside layout spreads. Thus, all of the elements were emerging gradually, step by step creating the look and feel I desired to achieve.
