the art of language
publication / illustration
art direction: scott laserow
The Art of Language is a three-part book series that illustrates the journeys of being bilingual. This project was inspired by my own experiences as well as others who identify as being bilingual and what potential challenges and achievements we’ve encountered. The illustration style used within these books is meant to relate back to childhood sketches as childhood and pre-teen years were found to be the time period where one’s relationship and experience with bilingualism could drastically change.
This project is currently going through some updates and formatting,
please excuse the lack of content shown down below!
Gaining
Gaining is the first book of the series as it focuses on the learning and adaptation process of learning a new language. The illustrations narrate the journey of suddenly being immersed by new words and sounds that you can't seem to understand yet. There are repeating symbols illustrated within the compositions to demonstrate the growth and process between that of the developing language.
Balancing
Balancing is the second book of the series as it focuses on the state in which one is fluent enough to be able to balance two languages. The illustrations visualize multiple ways in which one might express how their bilingualism takes effect into their identity and the ability to fluently switch from one language to another. The compositions of the spreads are designed to mirror each other alluding to a comfortable balance between all aspects.
Forgetting
Forgetting is the third book of the series as it focuses on the possibility of losing the ability to speak one of your two languages. The illustrations allow for the color black to be introduced as it slowly starts to consume the compositions, mirroring the emotions felt as one starts to lose a language. Noticeably, there are symbols and parallels of visualized work from the first book that are introduced into this book's composition, as the emotions felt within both books are very familiar.
