Text is the careful placement of letters or symbols in order to convey a thought, a message, an intent and more. It is the collection of words, sentences, and paragraphs that describe, prescribe, and conscribe. While text is simply the technology that allows us to communicate without moving our lips, it is also the myriad of ideas and understandings that we wish to pass on to others.
One of the first things that I ever remember reading was “The Magic Porridge Pot.” This is the story of the pot that magically fills with porridge with the command “cook little pot, cook,” and stops with the command “stop little pot, stop.” It’s a story about having too much of a good thing.
Text as a technology is most certainly a good thing, but is there a point at which too much written text obscures the message, thereby changing it into something that is no longer the original meaning? If so, then is there also a point in which text is not anything written at all?
I remember that story! That was a long-buried memory, but it returns very clearly.
Text is like any technology, sometimes it becomes more about the act of writing and less about the message you want to convey. Sometimes when I paint, it becomes less about the image I wanted to create, and more about pushing the paint about with the brush. Sometimes it works, more often it just gets muddy…
Annette