“I Wonder” by Marian Bantjes @ Hyperallergic
The work of Marian Bantjes radiates a sense of the eclecticism that she has cultivated, professionally and personally, over the course of a varied career as a book typesetter, co-founder of Digitopolis graphic design studio, and as an independent designer/artist/letterer — for which she is internationally known. Released in 2010, her book I Wonder (Monacelli Press) is an attempt to synthesize her penchant for ornamentation, her formal research and reading, and her lived experience into a kind of wildly illuminated manuscript of observational philosophy. The results are as complex and varied as the subject matter.
As early as the “Acknowledgments,” we understand that all bets are off, in terms of Bantjes’s treatment of text; all names in this section are etched out from the thank-yous in loopy, reflective script that playfully imitates handwriting. Bantjes shortly follows this with her introduction, setting the stage with enviable self-awareness.
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