A Children’s History of Invisibility

Tavares Strachan

Tavares Strachan's work investigates the nature of invisibility in relation to knowledge by “thinking about the things that are not being studied, the things that aren’t visible. The characters that don’t make it into the books, the people that don’t make it into the halls of history”.

Based on 'The Encyclopedia Britannica', A Children’s History of Invisibility explores topics, histories and people often under-known or overlooked by mainstream society. Each panel corresponds with a letter of the alphabet, with the information partially or fully obscured by superimposed imagery along with a large alphabet letter whose ornamental typeface alludes to early European encyclopedias and manuscripts.

Strachan questions the nature of truth and reminds us of how recorded history discriminates, and that knowledge and arguably science is subjective. What is considered as important to document, study and research is ultimately based on a human decision. And so whilst some histories, narratives and research are brought to the fore, others are elided, repurposed, or made to disappear altogether.

Image credit: Brooke DiDonato, courtesy of Tavares Strachan, 2016.