Pro Forma: language/text/visual art (Vol. 1)

What are the ramifications, expectations, developments, and directions of text in visual art? What personal, social or political motivations inspire its use? What have been the conditions of its appearance, its evolution, and the climate of its reception? How does it become a limiting or liberating factor in production and interpretation? How does text function as a formal medium?

In order to address these questions, a call for essay and artwork was issued. The works that came back fell into groups of distinct themes; it was from these themes that the concept of a three-volume set arose, with each volume focusing on a specific area of concern.

Jessica Wyman is a curator, critic and art historian living in Toronto and teaching at OCAD University.