Words and Years, 2010–2016
Screen prints, 76 × 56 cm.
Words and Years (2010-2016) is a series of graphs based on data from various academic journals and news magazines. The frequencies of the use of certain words are mapped by searching through digital archives of the complete publication history of the journals, from the first to the most recent issues. The graphs were made as enquiries into how, or if, history, events and the “zeitgeist” is reflected in language. The graphs are suggestive and invite open interpretations, as the metaphorical meaning of the selected words shifts across the fields of knowledge that the source journals represent.
The series consists of 16 prints in total; a selection is included in the LIAF exhibition.
Toril Johannessen (b.1978) is an artist working in Tromsø, Norway.