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The diversity of human language inspired artist Elly Sherman to explore the sounds of words and the appearance of writing as art–a kind of living “music” that reflects both cultural diversity and the transcendence of creativity. Sherman’s curiosity led to the development of Language Portraits: Words and Images, a project that uses multiple translations of a poem to explore the nature of language.
Sherman recorded her poem–based on a quote by Isaac Asimov–and painted it on a glass panel. She then invited participants to contribute translations to the quiltwork program, resulting in recordings in a variety of languages and a mosaic of glass panels. The project successfully captures the abstract beauty of language–the range of cadences and sounds that evolved within each family–while the poem itself praises the universal aspects of human existence. The program would be richer, however, if it also offered explorations of the diversity within individual languages, such as the differences found in English spoken in New Zealand, Alabama, and Yorkshire or the differences between German in Berlin and Vienna. While exposing its audience the the richness and complexity of sound and (in the case of writing) form, the project also raises questions about the possibility of using art to explore the range of structures found in human language. Overall, though, Sherman’s creation helps viewers understand language as both a tool in the creative process and an end result of creativity.
. Historian Shae Davidson's research interests include public policy and the relationship between culture and civil society. His publications range from articles on industrial history to absurdist poetry.
