Anna Cusenza
WORKING NOTES:
CIPHER is a take-off on the Modern graphic sign pushed "out-of-shape" through motion. The result is a freeing-up of any given notion of what "A" or "H" or "M" is supposed to look like. In that freeing it moves as image both backwards and forwards in time, thus encompassing its own history and process of change. In this way it is as closely linked to cuneiform as a visual code as it is to the technologically generated symbols of today.
CIPHER came out of years of involvement with the photostatic process and the particular attributes and capabilities the various machines had to offer. Simultaneously, I was also interested in the source of written language as it appears visually in an alphabet--i.e. a character, sign or mark. Feeling restricted by these acknowledged characters as they exist today and back through to the Roman period, I wanted to create my own alphabet, my marks that come solely out of my personal experience, thus challenging and defying the given notions passed down by male scholars.
journal notes, re. CIPHER:
12/82
"M" being at the very center of the alphabet
falling unevenly 13
the 13th letter
standing precariously on 2 1/2 legs
1/1/86
Since CIPHER's inception, I've been involved in a definite process of searching out and discovering, as layer upon layer is revealed to me. It is an archeological journey of sorts, into the forbidden and mysterious history of my unconscious. As it continues to unfold, unveiling itself as it moves along ( a process within a process), I move closer to its source and reason for being:
the invisibility I have felt as a woman
the imposed silence and voicelessness
the sorrow and ensuing rage
the ultimate misrepresentation
12/82"M" being at the very center of the alphabet
falling unevenly
13
the 13th letter
standing precariously on 2 1/2 legs
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