This paper explores the tradition and current usage of text in fine-art holography. Transporting written material from a page or a computer screen into another medium profoundly alters or influences the meaning of the words and the visual context they then inhabit. Fine-art holographers have used text and lettering in their work in many ways to enrich the communication between artist and audience. Some of these explorations have included: using text to escape the mimetic element of the medium of holography; expanding on the effects of concrete poetry using movement in three-dimensions; incorporating text and lettering in holographic images as a metaphor for the storage of knowledge; and using fragments of text and lettering to depict or emphasise the difficulties inherent in communicating through both media – art and writing. This paper examines some of these approaches and argues the interactive effect of text and image allows the holographic artist to reach towards a deeper communication with the audience.
