In the first cross-year studio session, we were challenged to make a new kind of alphabet. This exercise also challenged my notion of what an alphabet could be.

Growing up, I am taught to use mostly Latin alphabet. Sure, from time to time, me and my family would talk in Javanese, or just in a dialect rooted in Javanese. But mostly, I write in Latin. During one of the discussions, I pointed out that there are some sounds in the Javanese language that couldn’t exactly be written in any other alphabet except the Javanese script (Aksara Jawa). Sadly, I am not fluent enough in Javanese, nor am I able to write in the script.

I was paired up with a group of Chinese students, and they were so generous to teach me about the very basics of the Chinese alphabet where one character could mean one thing, but combined with another it might make another thing. The script is also highly visual, so it was very interesting for me to explore.

We came up with objects as an alphabet, exploring how they interact with one another to create different meanings. We decided that different ways of structuring these objects would mean different tenses (like past, future, or present).

Additionally, more of these objects would make a whole sentence. So, our sentence might look like this:

All in all, this was a fun session to explore what an alphabet could be, and what we can use to symbolize deeper meanings.