The British have Gill Sans; the French, Garamond; the Italians, Bodoni; the Swiss, Helvetica. Is there a relationship between a typeface and place? Can a typeface have a regional accent? There is no such thing as a New Zealand typeface interrogates this question through the lens of Kris Sowersby’s (Klim Type Foundry) typeface, National 2.

Realised in 2017, National 2 is a complete overhaul of National (2007), which Sowersby designed to provide New Zealand designers with a local typeface that might preclude reaching, by default, for those designed overseas.

Debuted at Objectspace—New Zealand’s premier design gallery—this exhibition questioned how identities are formed through symbols, imagery, beliefs and language. In our globalised world, for instance, is it asking too much of a typeface to play a role in representing identity when the Latin script is so widely used? Working with photographer Alistair Guthrie, he investigated the relationship between type and place, text and landscape, and ultimately identity. The project uses highly vernacular road signs to present a territory in which design is intertwined with landscape. Guthrie’s large-scale atmospheric photos cast National 2 in the role of marker of place – a fictitious and political act. At first glance the images seem classically heroic, but clues within the images hint at alternative readings.