Holding a Conversation with the Narrative

In the centre of my artistic practice is the need to communicate. Throughout my life, there has been a primal need for what I am expressing to be understood and valued. I desire to articulate a balance between conveying the personal with a larger need to communicate to the broader public as the personal connects with my audience. In my thesis I describe how integral and important language is for respectful and mindful interactions with people we already know and people we do not yet know. The nuance of language consciously and unconsciously shapes how we respond to each other and how we relate within power dynamics. Many of the mechanisms that hold power-dynamics in place are reinforced by language. Ultimately, language reproduces and supports implementing and maintaining discrimination and subordination. My practice engages with the process of surfacing repeated discriminations and closed-minded actions, both of which are often hidden and ordinary. The insidiousness of these kinds of actions sustains ongoing racism, sexism and overarching patriarchal standards that divide and categorize people into a value system. In raising an awareness around how we interact and speak with others, we are able to slowly and arduously dissolve these discriminations. The conversation becomes integral to changing the structures that are in place. This is the starting point for what we all can contribute to the value of humankind and how we can start to reconsider how we treat each other.