PROJECT DESCRIPTION

"Nari Ward: We the People" is a catalog designed for Nari Ward’s 2019 exhibition at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.

Printed with metallic copper ink on the cover and all edges, the object-like catalog replicates one of Ward’s copper plate works titled “Breathing Panel: Oriented Left."

Ward’s copper plate works reference copper plates found in Georgia churches along the Underground Railroad network. Copper plates with “breathing holes” were placed in the church floorboards, concealing spaces for people to hide along their journey to freedom, while allowing them to breathe. Nari Ward's work preserves this history, and the object-like catalog holds this memory as well, even when stored closed on a bookshelf or table.

The catalog's interior is a nod to the duality of the sacred and the everyday that exists in Ward’s work: justified columns of text reference sacred, biblical texts, while the use of Arial Narrow Bold in one weight and one size throughout references the vernacular typographic signage in Ward’s Harlem neighborhood. Artwork captions are set in the same type size as curatorial essays, honoring the materials and labor of the artist on equal terms as verbose scholarly rhetoric.

BOOK INFORMATION

Trim Size: 9 x 13

Number of Pages: 208

Binding Method: Hardcover

Paper: Arctic Volume

Typefaces: Arial Narrow Bold

CREDIT INFORMATION

Creative Director: Laura Coombs

Art Director: Laura Coombs

Book Designer: Laura Coombs

Jacket/Cover Designer: Laura Coombs

Illustrator:

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