Photo essay | Hand-painted typography

Hell-vetica.

Capturing the art of Hand-painted typography.

A photo essay by George Thomas.

Hand-Painted Typography CONCEPT NOTE

When walking through the streets of Chennai, it’s hard to miss the bright and bold political graffiti that adorns the walls and buildings. Artists have never been bound by the paper or canvas and have always been looking for different mediums to express ideas. India has a rich tradition of hand-painted typography from matchbox labels to Satyajit Ray’s brilliant movie posters. This tradition still continues in various parts of Chennai like the local markets, fishermen boats, trucks and autos. My aim is to capture the emotion that is associated with this age-old art and how it still stands out in our largely digital world.

Inspiration Everywhere around us we see various traditions dying, giving into the chaos and pace of our technology driven world. These traditions defined sets of people and created diverse cultures across the globe. We lose a part of our identities when a tradition bites the dust.

Typography has always been closely connected to cultures, with varied scripts and calligraphy techniques. Hand-painted typography tells a story by itself with a slice of the artist’s emotion instilled in it. Before printing, painted advertisements and store signages were widespread.

Now flex boards and neon signs have largely replaced this age-old art.

Still we find spells of beautifully hand-painted letters and numbers around us at public spaces, in the form of advertising on walls and even in the form of vandalism around town. India has a rich culture of hand painted posters and matchboxes. I want to show what still exists from before vinyl signs, and before Helvetica.

Review STUDY ON STREET TYPOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECTS

Street Typography is not limited to just graffiti. It consists of all forms of typography from billboards to road signs to shop facades. When you travel from place to place this gives an idea of the mood and aesthetics of that area.

Todd MacFie’s captures of Tamilian street typography.

Richard Frazer’s photo documentation of Truck art from Kerala

India has a wide variety of typographic styles owing to its multitude of languages across the nation. The treatment of glyphs differ with the scripts and the challenges in displaying them are beautifully solved in hand-painted typography.

Summary I would like to capture not only the typography but the life and culture that is connected with it as well. A lot of display fonts that we use today are interpretations of certain hand-painted type. Rather than just reading text, the experience of viewing a hand-painted font is more visually engaging. This is certain to hook the audience into first reading the text, and not seeing it as an array of characters but as an entire work of art.

Street typography is not comprehended by capturing the typography by itself but it gains meaning from its environment and the life that thrives there. My objective is to capture this atmosphere in its entirety and portray how typography is a part of the landscape.

Shot description

Angle

Shot

Rigs

Time

Location

1

Temple exterior

Eye

Wide

18-55mm

4-6 pm

Tiruvanmiyur

2

Market shop sign

Low angle

Close

55-250mm

4-6 pm

Tiruvanmiyur

3

Painted ads

Low angle

Wide

55-250mm

4-6 pm

Tiruvanmiyur

4

Milestone

Eye

Close

55-250mm

4-6 pm

Kottivakkam

5

Store sign

Eye

Close

18-55mm

4-6 pm

Parry’s

6

Xerox shop

Eye

Close

18-55mm

4-6 pm

Parry’s

7

Type on pillar

Eye

Close

55-250mm

4-6 pm

Tiruvanmiyur

8

Store sign

Eye

Medium

18-55mm

5-6 am

Kasimedu

9

Apartment gate

Low angle

Ext close

55-250mm

4-6 pm

Kottivakkam

10

Telephone booth

Eye

Medium

18-55mm

4-6 pm

Sowcarpet

11

Temple gate

Low

Medium

18-55mm

4-6 pm

Sowcarpet

12

Ironing cart

Eye

Close

18-55mm

4-6 pm

Sowcarpet

13

Bus depot sign

Eye

Close

55-250mm

7-8 am

Tiruvanmiyur

14

Street corner

Eye

Medium

18-55mm

4-6 pm

Parry’s

15

Ice cream cart

Eye

Close

18-55 mm

4-6 pm

Sowcarpet

Shot No.

Hell-vetica.

Capturing the art of Hand-painted typography.

A photo essay by George Thomas.

L.B Road, Thiruvanmiyur

f/5.6 | Shutter: 1/125 | ISO: 800

Omnipresent

Marudeeswarar Temple, Thiruvanmiyur

f/4.5 | Shutter: 1/100 | ISO: 100

The Mundane Milestone

L.B Road, Thiruvanmiyur

f/5.6 | Shutter: 1/125 | ISO: 400

No Borders

Neelankarai, ECR

f/5.6 | Shutter: 1/100 | ISO: 400

The Pillar of Services

Sowcarpet f/5 | Shutter: 1/125 | ISO: 400

Colour Code

Thiruvanmiyur Market

f/4.5 | Shutter: 1/125 | ISO: 100

The Catalogue

Sowcarpet f/5 | Shutter: 1/100 | ISO: 100

The Test of Time

Parry’s Corner

f/5 | Shutter: 1/100 | ISO: 400

Fishy Business

Kasimedu f/4.8 | Shutter: 1/60 | ISO: 2200

Product over Brand

Parry’s Corner f/5 | Shutter: 1/60 | ISO: 400

Skinned

Thiruvanmiyur market

f/4 | Shutter: 1/125 | ISO: 100

Vector to Wall

L.B Road, Thiruvanmiyur

f/5.6 | Shutter: 1/125 | ISO: 100

Protest

f/5.6 | Shutter: 1/125 | ISO: 100

Calm amid Chaos

Parry’s Corner

f/5.6 | Shutter: 1/1000 | ISO: 100

To Hellvetica.

Thiruvanmiyur f/5.6 | Shutter: 1/125 | ISO: 100

References https://richardfrazer.com/blog/hand-painted-indian-typography/ https://ilovetypography.com/2012/04/06/type-camp-india/ http://www.messynessychic.com/2016/03/31/the-lost-art-of-street-typography/

A photo essay by George Thomas.