Literate bodies

Noah#2
Last night I watched some extracts from Into Great Silence, one of which showed book-binding work in meticulous detail. I was struck by the physical labour of knotting and threading that was once part of publishing. The work of the hands has now been simplified to clicks and keystrokes by digital media. The changing work of the body in literacy fascinates me still, so I’m looking forward to this summer reading that looks at the physical dimension of reading. Today, after several disastrous attempts, I managed to photograph the Noah graffiti which appeared just after the floods on a wall near here. Along with the spontaneous humour and topicality of graffiti, there is the secret physicality of this work. Writing to scale, probably at night, with a spray can is a completely different engagement of the body.