Surface Echoes is a three year project working with patient communities to find meaningful, thought-provoking ways to make the thousands of voices of those affected by eczema heard. Producing a digital archive of these powerful and moving quotes in different creative forms will raise awareness, promote discussion, reduce stigma and increase understanding of this condition, not only amongst academics to direct their research, but also for healthcare workers to guide their treatment approach, carers and the general public.
Surface Echoes is an interdisciplinary collaboration involving a range of different creative practitioners. The creative aspect of the collaboration has shifted and expanded over the course of the project, bringing together a rich variety of talents and expertise at different stages.
I have been involved with making the collage of the Surface Echoes script available digitally as a PDF, manipulating the scanned version in Photoshop to make it easier to read and understand while still maintaining the scratchy, disruptive aesthetic of the original. I have worked closely with Bev Hood and Catherine Street, reading through the script to analyse how the degraded collaged form slows down the reader to create a more thoughtful reading experience and how that engagement can be improved with subtle typographic interventions.
Below is a detail of the original scan of the college created by Bev Hood and Catherine Street that collects together quotes from people living with eczema; above is a detail of my edit of the scan which will be available as a printable PDF script.
