Imogen Crockford

The focus of this portfolio is poetry. For my degree, I spent time studying different forms of artistic expression and, more specifically, how language can be used alongside them. For me, as a very visual thinker, my work quickly became an exploration into various ways to display language beyond any traditional form, i.e., stanzas and verses. I am interested in visual images, whether drawn or photographed and giving them a poetic aesthetic. This being because I find some images more emotive than sequential words. A lot of my work is digital. I specifically like to experiment with Photoshop and mobile drawing apps like Ibis Paint X, that allow me to create templates and sketch out images.

I mostly enjoy working with faces and bodies and combining these visuals with reflective words. A technique I tried early on was screenshotting pages of written text, playing with the perspective of the words, and cutting them into pieces to form a face. Later, I began digitally drawing visuals and placing the text in layers directly underneath to give the overall piece a more 3D effect. However, some of the best pieces I have produced take the form of a landscape. This is also to do with the perspective of words; however, I spent a lot of time cutting out individual letters, duplicating and playing with opacity. Additionally, I have also produced bits of photo poetry that use photography to portray a poem or general aesthetic.