Giclée Print (100 copies)
Size: 18×24″
Artist: Brian K. Johnson
This typographic rendering of the letter A is built entirely from the text of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Using only the novel’s words—and nothing else—Brian K. Johnson constructs the infamous symbol worn by Hester Prynne, transforming narrative into emblem.
As the text descends, the red intensifies, suggesting the deepening weight of shame, identity, and resistance that the letter represents. Though constructed from Hawthorne’s 19th-century prose, the image speaks with modern resonance: about public judgment, societal branding, and the power of reclaiming one’s mark.
Johnson’s minimalist approach is rich with literary tension. The large, slab-serif “A” anchors the viewer, but a closer look reveals the layered and unresolved questions of guilt, gender, and moral scrutiny. It is a story told not just through reading, but through typographic form.