Pidgin Diaries
A fictional reflectve journal recounting a conversation with pigeons aided with visuals
Monday - 21/06/2021
Heard journaling was good for the mind, so here I am starting this little habit I guess. Sheryl said she started journaling during lockdown and it helped her with her stress. Not sure if I’ll be able to keep this up to be honest, but maybe if I coupled this with visits to the park it might be achievable?
On that note I realise I’ve never eaten outside, might try and do that today during lunch break and find some greenery nearby the office. Might be nice to connect with nature a little.
Tuesday - 22/06/2021
I went to a new park today and sat at one of the benches to have my sandwich and coffee. I’ve never had one from this cafe before, and it looks like it could be too much, but I definitely gained an appetite after this morning’s fiasco. All the delayed letters and packages finally came in just before I had to leave for the meeting, and I didn’t notice until I was using hand sanitiser that I had actually given myself a paper cut. Ugh. Luckily I had a band-aid in my wallet or else I might’ve stained the birthday card Sheryl posted.
The visit to the park today was actually quite nice. It was great to have a slow moment break up my day. I ended up having leftover crust and let the pigeons have it. They seemed quite happy with the bread and lettuce. I might actually visit this park again tomorrow.
Heard journaling was good for the mind, so here I am starting this little habit I guess. Sheryl said she started journaling during lockdown and it helped her with her stress. Not sure if I’ll be able to keep this up to be honest, but maybe if I coupled this with visits to the park it might be achievable?
On that note I realise I’ve never eaten outside, might try and do that today during lunch break and find some greenery nearby the office. Might be nice to connect with nature a little.
Tuesday - 22/06/2021
I went to a new park today and sat at one of the benches to have my sandwich and coffee. I’ve never had one from this cafe before, and it looks like it could be too much, but I definitely gained an appetite after this morning’s fiasco. All the delayed letters and packages finally came in just before I had to leave for the meeting, and I didn’t notice until I was using hand sanitiser that I had actually given myself a paper cut. Ugh. Luckily I had a band-aid in my wallet or else I might’ve stained the birthday card Sheryl posted.
The visit to the park today was actually quite nice. It was great to have a slow moment break up my day. I ended up having leftover crust and let the pigeons have it. They seemed quite happy with the bread and lettuce. I might actually visit this park again tomorrow.
Wednesday - 23/06/2021
Heard that there were 18 new COVID cases today. Jarrod had to isolate since he was a close contact, so work was pretty busy since he was out of office. Anyway, I went to the same park again this morning and found a couple of pigeons circling the bench I was at yesterday. I was curious to see what they were having for lunch so I took a peek and saw this? I was so sure I threw these out into the bin, I don’t know how they got out and onto the bench like that? Anyway, I threw them back into the recycling and gave the pigeons some of my bread so they won’t have to peck at paper.
Thursday - 24/06/2021
Same park, same bench, not sure who left these crumbs like this? Whoever did must’ve just left though or else it would’ve blown away in the wind, but I didn’t catch anyone else in the park this early except the pigeons. Actually strangely enough,
it didn’t seem like the pigeons were having any of the crumbs? Maybe they were full from whatever bread this must’ve come from. I heard pigeons weren’t supposed to eat bread anyway since it fills them up and has little nutrients. I left my muesli bar on the bench just to see what’ll happen. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow.
Same park, same bench, not sure who left these crumbs like this? Whoever did must’ve just left though or else it would’ve blown away in the wind, but I didn’t catch anyone else in the park this early except the pigeons. Actually strangely enough,
it didn’t seem like the pigeons were having any of the crumbs? Maybe they were full from whatever bread this must’ve come from. I heard pigeons weren’t supposed to eat bread anyway since it fills them up and has little nutrients. I left my muesli bar on the bench just to see what’ll happen. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow.
Friday - 25/06/2021
Heard this morning that there was a new COVID variant going around. Scary stuff. New cases went up by 30 today. Mum kept telling me to take more vitamin C so I’d have less chance of catching COVID. Pretty sure that’s not how it works, but I might grab fruit from the office kitchen to keep her happy.
Another message appeared on the bench today. Bring fruit? Is this mum leaving me messages to make sure I get my vitamin C? No way. But by the way these pigeons are cooing at my feet it could honestly have been them. How funny would that be? Anyway, I shared half my mandarin with them as a treat. I’ll come back next week and see if it were actually these little guys.
Heard this morning that there was a new COVID variant going around. Scary stuff. New cases went up by 30 today. Mum kept telling me to take more vitamin C so I’d have less chance of catching COVID. Pretty sure that’s not how it works, but I might grab fruit from the office kitchen to keep her happy.
Another message appeared on the bench today. Bring fruit? Is this mum leaving me messages to make sure I get my vitamin C? No way. But by the way these pigeons are cooing at my feet it could honestly have been them. How funny would that be? Anyway, I shared half my mandarin with them as a treat. I’ll come back next week and see if it were actually these little guys.
PROCESS
During a project feedback session, designer and typographer Adam France mentioned the idea of pigeons communicating through typography. It reminded me of an experiment I saw that detailed the pigeon’s cognitive ability to learn how to read English words. I was intrigued by France’s idea of pigeon typography and tested it out with different mediums.
I gathered the papers and food scraps that I had collected and produced during lockdown to make up my pigeon’s writing resources. I then used a tweezer as a tool to embody a pigeon’s beak to maintain a sense of semi-realism when picking out shapes and letters from my material.
The result I aimed for is a series of endearing yet mildly unsettling messages communicating what I think a pigeon might want to say if they could speak to us. What kind of feelings would they express if they could, and what would they say if they were to suddenly find themselves alone in the streets?
During a project feedback session, designer and typographer Adam France mentioned the idea of pigeons communicating through typography. It reminded me of an experiment I saw that detailed the pigeon’s cognitive ability to learn how to read English words. I was intrigued by France’s idea of pigeon typography and tested it out with different mediums.
I gathered the papers and food scraps that I had collected and produced during lockdown to make up my pigeon’s writing resources. I then used a tweezer as a tool to embody a pigeon’s beak to maintain a sense of semi-realism when picking out shapes and letters from my material.
The result I aimed for is a series of endearing yet mildly unsettling messages communicating what I think a pigeon might want to say if they could speak to us. What kind of feelings would they express if they could, and what would they say if they were to suddenly find themselves alone in the streets?
VISCOMM HONOURS PROJECT BY CLARICE TAN
UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY SYDNEY TUTORED BY ZOE SADOKIERSKI 2021