How much of what we think, act like and identify as, is shaped by the words we consume? Which words do we absorb, which ones were imposed on us, and ultimately do we choose the words we believe? In the book The Four Agreements, Ruiz writes “The whole dream … ninety-five percent of the beliefs we have stored in our minds are nothing but lies.” I am curious if my thoughts, actions, identity and body are possessed by the stronghold of a potent language. How deeply are these words rooted into my mind and body? I want to slowly disentangle from words that no longer serve me. Deriving from the earlier work Text and Tongue, I continued to mesh photo-based images of my body with stories from personal journaling, including records of dreams and nightmares, to create the following works called Words. Text and tangible materials were manifested into these photo-based installations.
Words is a set of new works created for the Space Within exhibition at Walnut Contemporary in May 2017 for CONTACT Photography Festival. The show was curated by Ibérina Raquel Vilhena and features a select group of artists who explore various concepts of space: geographical, conceptual, physical and abstract space. Special thanks to Ontario Arts Council for exhibition assistance.
| Installations of Words artworks | Footage from inside the black video sculpture |