7 February – 24 February 2008
Exhibition artists: Simone Kennedy, Mika Utzon Popov
Two main elements:
The first component to the project is a series of twenty-six paintings, each defined by a letter of the alphabet, for example T is for Triangle, U is for Uppercut, A is for Alice etc. The paintings are coded and together form a larger symbolic narrative.
The second component is experimental with a written element. Text linked through 26 fixed words for each letter initiated a stream of consciousness that inspired storytelling. The text was less prescribed, forming a subjective platform from which the reader could determine their own reference points. Punctuation was omitted to free up a space where the spontaneity of thought could be recorded without concern for the technicality of writing. The process of bringing together a collection of words and thoughts that would seemingly spring from the unconscious, formed an immediate sense of difference.
Learning to Speak is a playful investigation into childhood and adolescence. A time of unexplained trepidation and mystery…who really knows why Orville the character in, O is for Original sprang into my imagination or why I decided to declare his concerns with regard to his internal organs? My interest in the detail on this project would consume me, take months to refine and remain as ambiguous as it first started out.
