Excerpt
Seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognises before it can speak.1
Seeing establishes our place in the world. To communicate what and how we see we need a language. As a child, one way I learned about language was through illustrated picture books that combine alphabet, word and image. As I grew and gained a broader understanding of language through books, the images decreased. As an artist, I feel I am returning to the idea of the illustrated picture book, so that I may communicate my thoughts and ideas. By verbalising the visual, I engage in communication with other human beings, so they may see what I see. Language is the key for our understanding of art. Language also influences our perception of the world. This essay will explore the relationship between art and language to human beings, through perception and semiotics to enable me to contextualise my current art practice in printmaking.
Understanding language is the key to understanding or making sen se of things. The human life world is a world in which human beings are engaged with others. Through language, human beings are engaged in a world of meanings.
This sentence highlights our need to understand written language. By using Webdings, a dingbat font that renders letters as symbols, I imagine this sentence is meaningless to anyone untrained in the interpretation of Webdings.
Understanding language is the key to understanding or making sense of things. The human life world is a world in which human beings are engaged with others. Through language, human beings are engaged in a world of meanings.2
For me, art is a visual language. Conceptual art has opened the door to artistic freedom, engaging with others in the human life world. Artists can, through intersubjectivity in a shared world, express concerns that affect their social environment. The search for a better way of life is expressed in my work, through concerns for the care and protection of my children. I consider social issues, ranging from human impact in the global and local environment, to issues regarding consumption and sustainability. Works I reference, will be analysed in a social context as this has a bearing on my work, to allow you to see what I see.
1 John Berger. Ways of Seeing. London: Penguin Books, 1972 p7
2 This sentence is the translation of the Webdings version
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