About the postcard
My postcard channels the spirit of two friends – Iris Murdoch and Mary Midgley. I came up with the piece – which is also a downloadable font! - while researching in the Midgley Archives at Durham University. There were several letters in the archive that Iris had written to Mary discussing the goings-on of their daily lives and, of course, philosophy. I loved deciphering Iris' handwriting and the uniqueness of both their handwriting as they exchanged ideas.
In Salvation by Words, Murdoch writes:
“There is no doubt which art is the most practically important for our survival and our salvation, and that is literature. Words constitute the ultimate texture and stuff of our moral being, since they are the most refined and delicate and detailed, as well as the most universally used and understood, of the symbolisms whereby we express ourselves into existence. We became spiritual animals when we became verbal animals. The fundamental distinctions can only be made in words. Words are spirit”
To reflect this sentiment I chose to create a font shaped by animals, all of which are referenced in the work of Elizabeth Anscombe, Philippa Foot, Mary Midgley and Iris Murdoch: kestrels, blue tits, wolves, foxes, lions, and deer.
About the font
Dear Iris open type font can be downloaded here and is free to use. It is a bitmap font and may not display in all software. It is compatible with Pages, Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign.
Durham University
