From left to right, a green booklet with a lily printed on it, a grey scroll with a model of a brain, and a pink heart-shaped card featuring an illustration of a winged child.

Re: Love

Re: Love consists of three printed projects, each documenting one interpretation of the concept of love.

Role

Print Design, 3D Modelling, Illustration

Timeline

February–June 2022

the white lilies

This 20-page chapbook reinterprets “The White Lilies” by American poet Louise Glück. Typography and imagery are used to reflect the emotions evoked throughout the poem, with certain structural limitations in place such as keeping the original punctuation, and having one line of the poem appear on each page.

The cover of a risograph booklet, featuring a the title The White Lilies by Louise Gluck, and an image of a lily.
Pages of a booklet featuring vines coming from the gutter crawling onto the white page, and the words; As a man and woman make a garden between them like.
A two-page spread featuring the words; a bed of stars, here they linger in the summer evening. The pages are white and littered with little stars.
Pages of a booklet, fading from white to green from left to right. On the left page, green text on white reads; And the evening turns. On the right, white text on green reads; cold with their terror: it.
In white on green text, the words; could all end, it is capable of devastation. All, all. The word devastation is heavily distorted and stretched.
This spread reads; can be lost, through scented air the narrow columns. The words flow up and down in white on the green pages.
Over an inverted image of a field of poppies in green, the words; uselessly rising, and beyond, a churning sea of poppies--.
Two white pages with the words; Hush, beloved. It doesn't matter to me how many summers I live to return.
The left page of the spread says; this one summer we have entered eternity. The right features an image of a hand, and the words; I felt your two hands. This spread is primarily white.
The left page reads; bury me to release, and features a plant in the dirt on a white background. The right page features only the word splendor, with the same plant now floating and glowing on a green background.

where does love come from?

This scroll poses the question “Where does love come from?”. It features three organs: the brain, the heart, and the genitalia (symbolized by a pixelated orchid), all arranged vertically as they would be in a body, so that each aligns with that of the viewer standing next to the piece.

Tommy holding a scroll featuring with 3d models of a brain, a heart, and a pixelated flower, which measures about his height.
A flat image of the scroll described.

wordplay

The 3D sculpted elements are intertwined with the characters “愛從何而來,” the Chinese translation of the piece’s title. In particular, the character for love, 愛, includes the character for heart 心, which has been replaced with the sculpted heart here.

A 3d model of a brain against pale grey.
A 3d model of a heart in the centre of a red Chinese character meaning love, on pale grey.
A pixelated orchid on pale grey.
The scroll with the brain, heart, and orchid, draped back and forth on a grey background.

the symposium

The last project is a set of 8 Valentine’s cards based on the speeches in the Symposium by Plato. In the original text, a group of notable men attend a symposium and speak about Eros, or love. Each of these speeches is interpreted as a playful illustration printed onto a heart-shaped card, suitable to be shared with a loved one.

From left to right, a red envelope, the back of a heart-shaped card, the front of that card, and a rectangular informational slip.
A red heart-shaped card that says the Symposium with sparkles around it.
The Symposium
A pink-heart shaped card featuring a drawing of an old god watching over Achilles killing Hector.
Phaedrus
A card depicting an older man carrying a younger man on his shoulder, with thoughts transferring between them.
Pausanias
A heart-shaped card showing opposite or incongruent elements being paired together.
Eryximachus
A card depicting a humanoid creature with two heads and four arms being split apart by lightning.
Aristophanes
A card with a drawing of a cupid-like figure looking down at a mirror among narcissus flowers.
Agathon
A card depicting a man embracing a group of sparkle shapes, surrounded by drawings of the stages of fetal development.
Socrates
A red card that reads simp, with an empty place for a name, and a Greek kylix.
Alcibiades

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Cannabis packaging featuring the brand name POTheads and an illustration of a 1960s hippie with a plant pot for a head, set against an orange background.