Each day we preserve fragments of information – most often mine are on post-it notes. There is something intriguing about the inconsequential slips of paper on which reminders of the utmost importance are written. A singular post-it note never holds the entire story as it is only a splinter of evidence, missing the context of the larger whole. It leads to a distortion of information.
I write things down on post-it notes throughout the week – reminders to text a friend, submit an assignment, or attend a meeting. These small handwritten fragments of my life are then often translated into a digital reminder – an emailed response, calendar notification, or grocery receipt. The notes or reminders within this artist book provide insight into my life during the weeks that I created it, yet they do not share enough to give a full understanding of any one aspect of my life. Through combining both traditional and digitally printed post-it notes, I link the distorted pieces of information that are deemed important enough for us to strive to remember.
This piece consists of sixteen modular chipboard squares contained inside a box. Every square has a post-it note glued to each side, one side holding a traditional handwritten note and the other side holding a computer-generated and printed note. These scattered hints of information are then sewn together, implying how the separate thoughts are indeed somehow connected, even if not fully apparent to the viewer. The form of the book further emphasizes the jumbled up “notes” of life in that it can be opened, unfolded, and refolded in various ways showing multiple perspectives.
I am inspired by the work of Edward Tufte, an American statistician and artist known as a pioneer in the field of data visualization. He writes extensively about how to best display, record, and design information. My idea of focusing on fragments of information stems from reading about Tufte’s research and considering the presentation of data, particularly data from my life that often finds its tangible manifestation on a small slip of pale-yellow paper referred to as a “post-it note.”
