HUMAN RIGHTS
2025
A book of 332 pages containing the complete text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights originally published by the United Nations on 10th December 1948.
Page size 12.5 inches x 17.5 inches (323mm x 440mm) casebound housed in a slipcase with title embossed on the spine.
The book is punctuated with 24 images that partition the 30 articles of the declaration.
The images are additions to the overall design of the book, ‘Ornament Patterns’ built from abstract shapes originating from a single cut-out figure.
These minimal stencils were laid out randomly in the desire to obtain an immediate vital resonance.
A subjective but considered procedure returned to over a period of time and reviewed for their enduring visual impact.
“The growing urgency of advocating for human rights inspired the creation of this
book. Its physical form has been brought to life through the meticulous process
of working within the precise limitations of my Vandercook SP20 letterpress.”
HISTORY
“I first came across the text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by chance when I visited Manchester City Hall, UK on a typically drizzly day in the summer of 2016.
Hanging in a long corridor, innocuous and askew… a single framed document lost on an otherwise empty wall.
Later that summer on a trip to the USA I visited SUNY Potsdam where I was kindly invited to exhibit at the Gibson Gallery.
On first impression, I was struck by the immensity of the 12 metre x 5 metre high wall at the back of the gallery.
This space required something unusually monumental!
I returned to my studio in France and started printing out the Declaration of Human Rights using the two and a half inch high headline type
I had available in my collection of wood-type fonts. I arranged the type to fit the gallery wall this time punctuated by collaged drawings.
The exhibition was entitled THE GRAND CHARADE and took place from September to November 2018.”
