The Big Nowhere

This project became a process of translation via layering type and image to re-create a story. The challenge with this project was to communicate both the macro-structure of an entire novel, while still paying attention to the nuance and power of the intricate language that constructs that novel. I used the original language as my cue to determine how I could create a new visual language. Ellroy’s “The Big Nowhere� is multi-layered in terms of plot lines, theme, and character. Ellroy's novel works from the detective fiction premise - with echoes of Chandler and Hammett. But the 1940's L.Al. crime tale is tinged by a violence of writing style and hard edge that I wanted to somehow convey. I attempted to capture that frenetic rhythm and complexity through the layering of silk-screening. So too did visual layering begin to function like the first-person point of view of the novel – revealing but also obscuring. This project pushed my thinking about how a novel's point of view can be visually shown in an unexpected way.