Sally Hollis-McLeod, Self help manual, 2005-06
Sally Hollis-McLeod, Self help manual, 2005-06, 28.5cm deep x 41.5 wide. Text and images on paper, wire-bound. Digital images created from handand digital-collage, photography, props, drawings.
Self help manual is an instance of hypertext, if that word was separated into two. And feminist philosophy. It arose from theoretical research, a thesis published in 2006 as Making Meaning Meaningful. The theoretical research, which was the larger part of a Masters degree (Massey University, 2006), investigated meaning-making in visual communications. It used the theory
of visual rhetorical figures and their operation (Jacques Durand, Paris, 1987) as one of three analytical tools. self help manual was the practical outcome—it
attempted the conundrum of ‘self help’ through a mixture of images, their small ‘illuminations’, their individual visual rhetorical figures, and texts.
There are footnotes (for the faint-hearted) which, contrarily, carry much of the real text, examining phases and stages of change in a woman's life and thinking. All texts are either self-created or arise from art history (surrealism, dada), feminism, design, and literature. Acknowledgements at the end are to three people who influenced part of the research: Jacquie Naismith (Massey University College of Creative Arts), Megan Jenkinson (photographer of The Virtues, her own published book), and Mary-Louise Browne (sculptor,
who once wrote Black and/or White. White and/or Black). International influences were Sue Coe (illustrator), Elizabeth Diller (architect) and Jorge Immendorf (artist).
Sally Hollis-McLeod is a designer and illustrator who lives in Auckland. Her work—and especially self help manual—is based on her feminism and political and social interests. She was a book and magazine designer and art director for most of her career, here and in Australia, as well as a lecturer in design at
a number of universities and polytechnics. Her heart is in textual and theoretical ideas that influence imagery. She now produces an on-line academic design research journal anti-po-des (www.anti-po-desdesignjournal.org.nz) and works on cultural and political projects.
Sally Hollis-McLeod, Self help manual, 2005-06
Sally Hollis-McLeod, Self help manual, 2005-06, 28.5cm deep x 41.5 wide. Text and images on paper, wire-bound. Digital images created from handand digital-collage, photography, props, drawings.
Self help manual is an instance of hypertext, if that word was separated into two. And feminist philosophy. It arose from theoretical research, a thesis published in 2006 as Making Meaning Meaningful. The theoretical research, which was the larger part of a Masters degree (Massey University, 2006), investigated meaning-making in visual communications. It used the theory
of visual rhetorical figures and their operation (Jacques Durand, Paris, 1987) as one of three analytical tools. self help manual was the practical outcome—it
attempted the conundrum of ‘self help’ through a mixture of images, their small ‘illuminations’, their individual visual rhetorical figures, and texts.
There are footnotes (for the faint-hearted) which, contrarily, carry much of the real text, examining phases and stages of change in a woman's life and thinking. All texts are either self-created or arise from art history (surrealism, dada), feminism, design, and literature. Acknowledgements at the end are to three people who influenced part of the research: Jacquie Naismith (Massey University College of Creative Arts), Megan Jenkinson (photographer of The Virtues, her own published book), and Mary-Louise Browne (sculptor,
who once wrote Black and/or White. White and/or Black). International influences were Sue Coe (illustrator), Elizabeth Diller (architect) and Jorge Immendorf (artist).
Sally Hollis-McLeod is a designer and illustrator who lives in Auckland. Her work—and especially self help manual—is based on her feminism and political and social interests. She was a book and magazine designer and art director for most of her career, here and in Australia, as well as a lecturer in design at
a number of universities and polytechnics. Her heart is in textual and theoretical ideas that influence imagery. She now produces an on-line academic design research journal anti-po-des (www.anti-po-desdesignjournal.org.nz) and works on cultural and political projects.