My 'object' for gallery one isn't exactly an object, it's languages, (hence the title). Languages are something I find incredibly interesting and important, everything from dialects and the evolution and devolution of language to the ever developing definition of words. It's something I spend a long time thinking, reading and talking about and something which, I believe, is often overlooked. We take language for granted, we rarely think about what it was, what it will be, or even what it is, despite the fact we use and consume it daily. And rather than prattle about the difference between 'you' and 'thou' in Shakespearian english, I'll explain my idea.
At first it was hard to think of a way to represent language, I didn't really want to just represent a single language and I didn't want to confine it to only one aspect either. After brainstorming at a Cylch meeting, I started to see ways to combine the aspects of language that I wished to represent. One of these was to possibly display an english exam paper written in text-speak or a Shakespearean play, yet again written in text-speak. Thereby combining 'classic' english with a more modern version (evolution of language yo).
Another idea was to fill a dictionary with words that have been removed from past dictionaries or, you guessed it, text-speak and slang, and whilst I didn't want to just focus on one language in specific, I did find an interesting timeline showing how the english language became what it is today.
I really liked this idea of a timeline, either one focusing on a particular language and showing it's evolution or one focusing on the evolution of language as a whole. Trying to show the evolution of language as a whole would mean showing the progress from spoken word to cave paintings, from hieroglyphics to Chaucer's english, and then to english today, with lots of steps in between. I'd also like to include either slang or text-speak or possibly even a guess at how language will develop in the future, so as to come full circle.
Whilst I do like the idea of a timeline, I've not yet thought of all the specifics I'd need to include or how to go about creating it (vinyl maybe?), and any advice / criticism would be helpful, even if you hate the idea and think I should pursue a different route, let me know your thoughts and feelings!
Thanks for reading,
Lucy :)
