merantau, menjaring (to wander, to catch) is an illustrated prose-poetry book, containing 2 pieces: bona pasogit. (homeland) and mulih dhisik. (go home, or roadtrip). In writing the 2 pieces, I took snippets of memories growing up in Indonesia then weaving them to look into my relationships with my lineage, gender, and independence. Written in 4 different dialects: English, Bahasa Indonesia, Basa Jawa, and Bahasa Batak, this book is a conflicting, yet genuine love letter from me to my cultural heritage as a Javanese-Batak person.
bona pasogit. explores themes of gender expectations, told through my reflections on the important of gold fish in Batak culture. mulih dhisik. explores themes of shared financial responsibilities, told through the ways food is eaten in both my Javanese childhood and my Vancouver present.
The stories are presented in a tumble-book format, with both meeting in the middle; a spread made of vellum paper asking the question: "Pulang?" (Go Home?).
Sample Spread
Sample Spread
Sample Spread
Proof-of-concept sketches
Cover Samples
Typographic Exploration
Thread-binding tests
This project was a labour of love. Trying to connect to cultures I both love and frustrated by, in several languages that I'm both familiar and a stranger to, was a behemoth of a task. However, this project managed to help me understand multilingual treatment of text, alongside flowing text surrounding images, in ways that I wouldn't otherwise. Other than that, I managed to explore so many different techniques of bookmaking, creating an understanding of the materiality of each part of a well-designed book.
Labour of love and care, condensed into 28 pages.
⭐️ Visit the exhibition's instagram here.
Individual project for COMD300, Core Studio in Comms. Design: Publication Design - The Book Object.
