Marina Herbst

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Marina Herbst is a final-year Graphic Design student at the North-West University in Potchefstroom. In 2009 she won the Student Goldpack competition. She has recently completed her design internship in Hasselt, Belgium, and was invited to complete a master’s degree in graphic design at the Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent, Belgium. After completing a BA Graphic Design (hons) at the end of 2010, she plans to become part of the European design industry by starting up an agency in Belgium with her partner, Evert Maris.

PROJECT

Title Het Festival
Medium Digital printed media
Dimensions 180 x 250 mm
Edition Unique
Price -

The title of the book is “Het Festival”, translated from Dutch as 'the festival'. The book is a celebration of a unique combination of eight character traits typical of my personality; it is an ode to a life thus far. The metaphor concieved to depict these traits visually is structured under a central theme of mountains as geological elements and permanent, timeless structures of nature. Each of these eight traits are stated in a personal, made-up Flemish idiom, and further illustrated by a structural diagram and followed by a pen-and-ink drawing of a mountainesque formation. The cards between the pages - in the form of large playing cards - each hold an individual explanation to the interpretation of each set of visuals as well as the idiom. I used the metaphor of playing cards as a way to express the difficulty in making decisions which can change the course and the outcome of a person’s life, similar to playing a card game. These cards are supposed to be sealed in separate cotton bags, leaving a sense of mystery with the viewer of the book, as it is not my wish for everyone to read it. On the accompanying poster, a piece of appropriate literature appears, complementing my concept - “Die Berg” by Breyten Breytenbach. The book is of a self-exploratory nature and should be interpreted in such a manner for it to be sensible to the viewer.