Four Letter Words

<p><em>Four Letter Words</em></p><p> </p><p>Michael Kearney (author)</p><p>Djohan Hanapi (illustrator)</p><p>Setsuko Adachi (contributor)</p><p>Priyageetha Dia (contributor)</p><p>Lim Lee Ching (contributor)</p><p><em> </em></p><p><em>Four Letter Words</em> has at its core a unique concept of the collaborative effort. The author/poet Michael Kearney came up with the idea for a book of poetry and retinal art over twenty years ago. Inspired by William Blake's <em>Songs of Innocence and Experience</em> Hunter S. Thompson and Ralph Steadman's collaborations and Roland Barthes' notion of 'The Death of the Author' Kearney envisioned a work where the only communication between the poet and the artist would be the artist's readings of the poems. After a long search Kearney found Delere Press who ventured to take on the challenging concept. The press placed Kearney's poems with risograph artist Djohan Hanapi of Knuckles & Notch. Hanapi created his illustrations sans communication with Kearney until after the project was completed. The result is a work where the poems and illustrations can be examined/enjoyed as stand-alone pieces of art or as a whole which exposes the pitfalls of any attempt at forming a tight concise interpretation of these pieces. <em>Four Letter Words</em> is a work that is open to the possibility of a myriad of readings; it allows each reader to discover their own meaning(s) and perhaps also discover something(s) about themself.</p>