Asemic writing is a wordless open semantic form of writing. The word asemic / eɪˈsiːmɪk / means “having no specific semantic content”, or “without the smallest unit of meaning”. With the non-specificity of asemic writing there comes a vacuum of meaning, which is left for the reader to fill in and interpret. (Wikepedia)
I have an ongoing interest in asemic writing and for those needing a readable overview of the topic I can recommend “Asemic The Art of Writing”, by Peter Schwenger, published by the University of Minnesota (2019).
During the partial lockdown caused by the Covid pandemic in 2021 I noticed that snails were leaving different trails or traces each morning along the paving stones of my garden path. They looked like unknown graphic messages, but to whom? I thought it would be nice to use these images in some other form to convey that message!
Consequently, I took regular photographs of these traces. Subsequently, I manipulated each of these photos using my software to produce an outline of the snail trace. I chose to leave them as achromic images to more clearly reflect their origins. Two examples are shown below.
I collected in total some 22 different and distinct traces over several weeks, During this process I started to think of them as syllables, although originating in the natural world are unrepeatable. The full and final list is shown below.
Snail Trace Storybook
The question then became what should I do with this collection of asemic syllables. By its very nature, whatever I produced it would have no literal meaning. In the end I decided to create a booklet consisting of asemic text, poems and diagrams, in total 23 pages . The examples shown are the Title Page, a textual phrase, haiku poem and a letter to nobody.
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The final Image shows all 23 pages laid out in the eventual sequence.
Snail Trace Ideograms
An ideogram or ideograph (from Greek ἰδέα idéa “idea” and γράφω gráphō “to write”) is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept, independent of any particular language, and specific words or phrases (Wikepedia).
I have used my Snail Trace syllables to create what have been called asemic ideograms. By their very nature they are meaningless, but so are many ideograms if you don’t understand the reference points for their interpretation. I have included here six of my ideograms.
Snail Trace Multiples
These multiple images have been built up from the Snail Trace Syllables. Hence, to me, they have a truly organic feel about them.
Snail Trace Coloured Multiples
These coloured multiple were made by adding colour to each of the snail traces in B&W versions, increasing their complexity, and then converting them to look like a 3D style ceramic plaque. or wall plate.
Snail Trace Coloured Multiples