EN | GULF

Ecopoetics of the Gulf and Bay

A collaboration between poets and graphic designers at The University of Houston to visually identify and bring attention to various issues in the Galveston Bay. 

en/gulf: [en-guhlf]

  • the liminal space between water and land

  • the Gulf of Mexico and its environs

  • an ecopoetic (nonhuman-centered) expression

  • a verb: affirming complete surround and wholeness

  • a verb: threatening total immersion and destruction

Organized into teams and assigned an element of nature (earth, air, fire or water) participants immersed themselves in various activities to help facilitate engagement, observation and research of the Galveston Bay area.

The research collected manifested itself into a three part exhibition:

  1. Samples/specimens” displayed in 70 glass jars (10 per team); a graphic representation of an expanded understanding of the location in relation to the element being represented.

  2. Video poems. Live footage, imagery, typography and in some cases, spoken word were used to animate poetry in relevance to the Bay.

  3. Eight poems. Written by the University of Houston PHD Creative Writing program and visually illustrated and letter pressed by the Senior Graphic Design class. The poems were designed as broadsides, printed, bound as an edition of 300 and donated to a non-profit that supports Gulf coast ecologies.

Residuum

"Residuum" is a video that tries to tell the tale of the impact that humans have made on the Gulf of Mexico. Featuring poetry by Martin Rock, the video is based around the idea of the duality of Man's existence on Earth.

Book Cover and Exhibition Branding

The cover of the book was a competition. As the winner of the competition, I had the opportunity to create the identity of the exhibition which included: intro page for the book, the window graphics and introduction wall for the exhibition.

En|gulf was the winner of an SEGD (Society for Experiential Graphic Design) Global Honor Award in 2017.
The project was funded by Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts

Book Cover

Intro Page

Window Design

Intro Wall