This poster is a typographic dialogue between two cultures- Japanese and Tamil. Susumo Ono, about 40 years ago claimed that Japanese was heavily influence by Tamil. Despite receiving heavy criticism for this idea, Ono theorised that this influence was brought about by Tamils who journeyed from their home to Japan about 2000 years ago, during the Japanese Yayoi period, when rice cultivation had just begun.

I chose the words 旅 (tabi) and பயணம ( payanam) which both translated to ‘journey’, a concept I wanted to depict. I found that if I could join the lines of 旅 (tabi) and magnify them, the shapes produced were very similar to the paddy fields of both Japan and Tamil Nadu.

The poster invites you to journey through the thin flat planes created by the zoomed in 3D letterforms of பயணம ( payanam) placed in each ‘field’ of 旅 (tabi). The shapes look abstract, mysterious and as if they belong to a time shared between the two cultures with which we will never be familiar.