Semiotics and Blackout Poetry
Date Issued
May 30, 2025
Author(s)
Abstract
The workshop Semiotics and Blackout Poetry explores the interplay between written language, typography and meaning-making through the lens of erasure-based poetic expression. Semiotics, the study of signs and their interpretation, provides a theoretical foundation for understanding how language, typography and image construct meaning in both, textual, and graphic design contexts. Blackout poetry, which involves redacting portions of an existing text to reveal a new narrative, serves as a creative exercise in deconstructing and reconstructing meaning. By strategically eliminating words, participants engage in a semiotic process that challenges traditional authorship, highlights hidden narratives, and invites new interpretations of textual material. This workshop encourages critical engagement with language in respect of graphic design layout and hierarchy of information, and fosters an awareness of how meaning is shaped by both presence and absence. Through guided activities, participants will analyze the semiotic implications of their poetic choices, gaining insight into how “erasuring” functions as both an aesthetic and political act in literary and graphic design meaning.
Subjects