IDLE TALK
Spring 2025 / Overseen by Megan Irwin / 8” x 10”
Idle Talk examines how, throughout history, gossip has been feminized and maligned, despite being an important tool for sharing information among marginalized communities.
The pages of Idle Talk are french folded, with gossip stories printed on the interior of the fold. Each page is perforated along the fore-edge and the book comes with a letter-opener knife, suggesting to viewers that they should tear open the pages. This is meant to induce the feeling of gossiping itself, an action that, to many, feels wrong and improper, but is necessary in order to gain important information. The paper was chosen specifically for its high level of show through, cluing viewers in to the contents on the interior of the fold as well as creating a feeling of visual chatter.
The exterior pages utilize a manuscript grid which creates the sense of a page within a page. This suggests the intimate nature of gossip but also the broader context within which it exists. In contrast, the gossip stories on the interiors of the pages don’t follow a grid and are arranged to mimic the cadence of natural speech.
The imagery consist of historical artworks titled with the word “Gossip.” Their overwhelming focus on women as subject matter reinforces the gendered perception of gossip discussed in the text.