Assertions

These are experiments with text collage, exhibited in 2023.

They play with the idea of text as a visual aesthetic object as well as a means of communication. The meaning remains unclear to what the assertion or statement refers, so the viewer / reader attaches her / his own interpretation to it.

These, for me, refer to the fact that I was adopted and was at that point finding out details about my biological father. It brought up memories of my biological mother who I knew well before her death and my relationship with my adopted parents.

It is society’s attitude that adoption is a fine solution to the problem of unwanted children but of course I wasn’t ‘not wanted’; my mother couldn’t keep me without a husband or a job, neither of which were forthcoming or sustainable with a young child. I had a good life with my adopted parents who adored me. It leaves me feeling very angry and confused.


Untitled

This again plays with our drive to seek meaning in symbols. It illustrates the fact that words do not have meaning in themselves but exist in a relation with other words in complex structures of grammar and sense according to the ‘language game’. (Wittgenstein)

Although we understand enough to make them functional, we all have a slightly different mental link to a specific word’s meaning; therefore the meaning is not fixed but hovers or floats around a word, defining but only loosely.

I am acknowledging these limitations but also the power of words to do good and heal or to do bad and hurt others. Words are the mechanism we use to get what we want.

There are also two cultural aspects. I am aware that as a woman, words are the most powerful tool I have to defend myself, given my physical weakness in a world of strong, independent men. However, my proficiency with English, being indigenous and educated, gives me a powerful advantage over others.

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