// OZYMANDIAS

This project reinterprets Percy Shelley’s Ozymandias within a contemporary American context, using imagery and material experimentation to explore the instability of power, legacy, and national identity. Inspired by the poem’s warning that all empires eventually collapse, the work merges past and present to question the illusion of permanence often attached to monuments and myths.

The piece takes the form of a handmade zine, referencing the DIY traditions of resistance movements that reclaim everyday materials as tools of critique. Through physical layering with vellum, tracing paper, and tape transfers, the imagery becomes fragmented and distressed, echoing erosion, decay, and the incomplete nature of historical memory. Transparency is used to reveal and obscure images, creating literal layers of meaning rather than relying on digital effects.

Typography further reinforces these themes. Courier New was chosen for its utilitarian, mechanical quality, contrasting with the expressive textures beneath it. Text is layered and repositioned to emphasize key moments in the poem and highlight ideas of pride and impermanence.

Overall, this project pushed me to use material choices as conceptual tools. By allowing the form itself to feel unstable and imperfect, the work reflects Ozymandias’ central message: every empire believes itself eternal // until it isn’t.