The Berlin Wall continues to be one of the most controversial border walls in the past 60 years, dividing a single nation for more than two decades.  ‘One Country and the Other’ aims to explore the Berlin Wall’s impact on personal and national identity through the use of poetry written during this period on either side of the wall. Imagery and mark making are used alongside these writings to enhance and contrast the delicacy of the words with the gritty reality of the wall.

Using the spine as division the poems are displayed on the ‘West’ and ‘East’, allowing them to be read separately or simultaneously. Traditional German book dimensions have been used as reference, making the book thinner and taller than those typically found in the UK, and uses a font produced in the GDR, fusing together the traditional, historic references with a contemporary design approach. It presents the poems in both English and German to allow an experimental presentation as well as demonstrating a respect for the original form.