Warphabet

e spent four hot hours wandering around the UN border and Ledra Street yesterday.  At the end of Ledra Street, near one of the UN checkpoints, we discovered a temporary exhibit by Viktor Koen. He's a graphic designer who studied in Israel and has produced graphic illustrations for just about every well known publication anywhere.  Warphabet, the exhibit that we saw, seems to be in the same steampunk vein as his other work.  


Though disquieting, there's something elegant about the way in which he's taken the machinery of war and transformed it into the benign everyday alphabet.  In an Anth class I took a couple years ago, we spent hours discussing the banality of evil. And, it's true.  Evil and war are boring.  Which isn't to downplay the tragedy or effects of either.  The fact is that the processes and people behind war and seemingly removed from the visible violence are bureaucratic and surprisingly undramatic.  In a country where civil war has become normative and yes, banal, Koen's exhibit is fitting.


The entire Warphabet can be found here, courtesy of William.  Be sure to maximize individual letters to take in all of the nitty gritty details.