A Beautiful Dark Heritage: Blackletter in Mexican Letterform Culture

Monday, July 31, 2023, 12:30 - 2:30pm

Add to Calendar

Type@Cooper - A beautiful dark heritage: a historical overview of blackletter in Mexican letterform culture A beautiful dark heritage: a historical overview of blackletter in Mexican letterform culture

There is a constant presence of blackletter in the Mexican landscape that can be spotted everywhere from Tijuana down to Cozumel. In the shape of cholo graffiti, sign painting for birria taco spots, tequila ice cream, tattoo parlors, gravestone carving, and a myriad of unapologetic cross-breed lettering displaying creative new styles of blackletter, becoming an essential part of México’s letterform culture.

Jesús Barrientos Mora's presentation will explore the (most probable) reasons behind how and why a mediaeval calligraphy style became so deep-rooted in México as a legacy spreading over 500 years.

Register for the free online talk here.

Jesús Barrientos Mora is associate professor at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. Recipient of the Scaliger Fellowship (2014), author of the book Legado de los Elzevir (2017) and certified in Typeface Design (University of Reading, 2018), he has lectured at institutions such as the Dublin Institute of Technology (2015), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (2017), and the Sheffield Hallam University (2019). His typefaces are currently distributed through the Monotype channels and have been awarded by the Bienal Tipos Latinos, Bienal Iberoamericana de Diseño, and Premios Clap, participating in many exhibitions across the Americas and Europe.

More Events & Exhibitions

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.