The Typographic Dante was a visual journey from Hell, through Purgatory, to Paradise in an exhibition of works responding to Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Artist Barrie Tullett created a series of typographic illustrations, each of which responded to a Canto of Dante’s unfolding narrative, giving an opportunity to experience the whole journey of the Divine Comedy in one visual experience. Each work was made using a different ‘obsolete’ technology: wood and metal type, a typewriter and letraset.

The Divine Comedy is a poem by Dante Alighieri. Written between 1308 and 1320, it describes Dante’s journey, led by Virgil, through Hell, Purgatory and Paradise, and, at a deeper level, represents the soul’s journey towards God.

Barrie Tullett is Programme Leader for Graphic Design at the University of Lincoln and is the author of Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology (Laurence King Publishing, 2014).

A set of prints by Brenda Dermody, reinterpreting some of these typographic illustrations, accompanied the works. Dermody is a designer, author and researcher, and is Programme Chair of Visual Communication at the Dublin School of Creative Arts, Technological University Dublin.

The Typographic Dante ran from Tuesday 30 April to Sunday 30 June 2019.