Zebrazebrazebrazebra

Frequently, words and images are considered two completely separate entities.  Words are thought of as text that communicates a message, while images are a type of artistic mark-making.  Most people assume that writers are not the same as artists, simply because they aren't composing forms, shading, or employing the use of color to fill in spaces.  Yet there are many people who push the boundaries between the two, knocking down the barrier between visual and textual information to invent new methods of expression.  As such, words and images can work together to create interesting designs.

For example, this image done by Jarrell Goh depicts the eye of a zebra.  At first glance, it looks like a fairly realistic rendering of a close-up view of the side of a zebra's face.  You can see visible skeletal structure in the face and a dark spot where the eye is located.  But the longer you stare at the image, the more things become revealed to you.  It isn't a real zebra at all; in fact, the artist used text to define the zebra's black stripes.  The zebra is in fact an illusion of a naturalistic animal created through repetition of the word "ZEBRA" in different sizes and distortions within the composition.  Thus it isn't even an animal at all, but a flat, two-dimensional display of the word "zebra" in a bold, uppercase font.

This is a case where word and image merge with one another to create a false three-dimensional quality in the composition.  The integration of the word "zebra" to create strings of text in the composition becomes recognizable as an actual zebra head.  It is difficult for our minds to understand it as a flat manipulation of text on the page because it reads so strongly as a zebra.