Exclaim! – Ayana – Punc*t – E Bond

“Welcome to PUNC*T, the fresh and sublimely disorderly companion to its predecessor, COUNTER. Made during the same letterpress residency as the previous collection (at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum), PUNC*T is my invigorating exploration into the marks that move language: punctuation. Quotation marks, question marks, exclamation marks; I printed marks of all kinds made from wood to express so much of how we communicate on the page. These marks have the power to change everything around them. These are the symbols that bring the goods—drama, expression, emotion, and most of all, intention. Upon completion of this collection, I looked back at the patterns and noticed that they were also bringing up a lot of rhythm and sound in a visual way…somehow the feeling of music had also crept in the backdoor while making these pieces. In hindsight, of course, this makes sense as this is another way language is felt, not so much on the page, but in the air. For me, the patterns of PUNC*T were transforming before my eyes into notes, sounds, and harmonies—into jazz, folk, and punk. It’s inspiring to imagine all of the thoughts and ideas just a few marks on a page can hold at once. I can’t wait to see what PUNC*T and COUNTER can inspire together.” -e bond