[2008-02-26] Thermotopographic facial assemblage thingy
This was an experiment in the use of so-called "fun foam," a.k.a. "craft foam." I bought two packages of 4x6" sheet covering a broad range of colors. Each sheet is about 2mm thick and backed with adhesive under a peel-off paper layer. The facial topography is scanned from a plate showing Michael Druks' lithograph "Druksland Physical and Social 15 Jannuary 1974, 11:30AM" in Katharine Harmon's interesting little book You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination.
Druks' original makes nice use of Ed Tufte's principle of "smallest perceptible difference" in colorizing the strata. I, however, had to make due with the colors which were available to me, and the difference among them were not subtle. The end effect looks as much or more like an IR-thermograph (Predator vision, anyone?) as a topographic map. If I experiment furthur on these lines I'll probably use strata of a single color. The frame was cobbled from a freebie pharmaceutical sales wall clock.
last modified 2008-02-26