“No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:1
“Tongue Islands” is an installation that metaphorically explores the interrelationships between peoples, languages and places. It is presented with three organically shaped wooden platforms placed low to the floor showing scattered resin cast tongues in clusters, groups of clusters, while individual tongues are placed in isolation, and seem disconnected from the other tongues. Some tongues reach over to the other island by vine-looking clear acrylic rods, which are lit up from the bottom of the platforms.
The platforms representing the islands also stand for countries or lands. Vines spring from each platform, with twisting branches, some of which are spreading their shoots onto other platforms. The vines represent the people or society of each land, and the paths that they take as they populate their land, and then migrate to other lands; bringing with them their customs, languages and a re-rooting of their history. Replacing leaves on the vines are tongues that represent individual voices and expression conveying their messages or perspectives.
I want this work to embody a global reference of present day culture that we are in rather than a historical reference of the past. Global villages represented by the islands, individual or diverse collective voices or even chaotic drama expressed in different languages for different tongues, as a communicative aspect depicted by vine-like rods with their hundreds of resin cast tongues can either make a harmony in wisdom or break society in conflict.
This ‘Re-examination of Perspectives’ is profoundly visible in the global grassroots movements today, from the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, the Jasmine protests in China, to Al-Islam Al Mandaniya, the Chilean Winter, and to the worlds’ embrace of the ideals of Aung San Suu Kyi.
This installation is a continuation of the “My Tongue Will Speak” series that I began in 2010.
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