In my Junior Typography course in Spring 2023, we were asked to take advantage of incorporating typographic forms into a space. I decided to try out this shadow sculpture technique to deliver the message “GO GREEN” out of recyclable soda cans. I always loved sculpture, so I wanted to try designing something tactile and impactful to incorporate into a space. I figured making the sculpture out of recyclable materials to write the message about going green would help drive the larger movement behind my thesis ideas.
The idea for my sculpture came from Tim Noble and Sue Webster's shadow sculptures Wild Mood Swings use piles of trash and miscellaneous objects to form lifelike shadows of organic things. I wanted to try my hand at this technique, but instead of making shadows of organic things, I wanted to try making a shadow spelling out a message with typography. I even played around with generating serifs in the shadows by manipulating the soda cans to curve in ways I wanted them to.