We have been under lock and key for a long time now. A prolonged period of isolation has led to a drastic change in our professional lives and the way we balance work and life. In fact, there has been such a blur of boundaries between the two that we might be looking at a future that does away with physical work spaces completely. Under these circumstances, the buzzword ‘work from home’ has taken off in a big way. An art collaboration named @typefromhome, has coined a new and more apt term – ‘Type from Home’ (abbreviated as TFH) qualifying the change in blue collar work patterns during the pandemic. Artists from all over the world have contributed to the initiative by crafting custom ligatures with the abbreviation, and using it in many creative ways.
One of the artists who contributed to the initiative is Yash Prajapati. Yash reworked some Bollywood posters by infusing them with bold typography and cut, hand-drawn mid-century Bollywood aesthetic. In re-imagining old Bollywood actors at a different place and time, the artist creates a surreal space juxtaposing a modern-world phenomenon (typing from home) with a retro sentiment. The contrasting juxtaposition creates a sense of anomaly, giving an anachronistic dimension to the visual storytelling. In other words, it breaks away from the linear constraints of time and space, enabling us to reconfigure our reality through creative ways of expression.
“A post-modern take on the classic movie poster, I’ve imagined the film as a surreal drama, starring Madhubala and Guru Dutt—an iconic movie couple in their own right—as they work on their typography, with legendary badman Amrish Puri playing the villainous type professor. As a visual easter-egg, Urdu type appears in-situ on various objects around the cast, showing up on cigarette packets and graph paper alike.”, says Yash.
“Finally, the film title of TFH features as a custom ligature, borrowing cues from Urdu typography seen in commercial cinema, replete with dramatic cuts and soaring thin strokes.”
Yash Prajapati (@thebeardedjedi) is a visual artist from Bombay, currently working in New Delhi. All type is good type, but retro Bollywood title cards, brimming with their campy charm, are his favourites. Hobbies include finding beautiful obscure fonts only to forget their names when it’s time to actually use them.
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