The pain to speak, the pain not to (for Theresa)
“The pain to speak, the pain not to (for Theresa)” is the first
outcome of the ongoing research which I describe
as ‘exercises in mediumship’. The work is a textile piece,
produced for The Pole in Rotterdam, that consists
of a big cyanotype on fabric. It’s a direct print of many pieces
of seaweed, fucus algae , which are placed on the fabric to form
the utterance “she mimics the speaking that might resemble
speech”. The text is the opening sentence of the novel “Dictée”
by artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951–1982) and this work
is an homage to her oeuvre.
reading along-side
writing from dictation
trying to attune to the whispers of ghosts
the poorly photocopied image I see
She speaks with the voice of others
summoning Other voices
the things that exceed their names
endeavour of translation
the longing to
the failure to understand
the failure to
evoke mnemosine, memory
in the attempt to speak
the possessed starts to stutter
“the tongue that is forbidden is your own mother tongue”
the tongue that is forgotten is your own mother tongue
