12 x 16 inches wooden panel coated with rabbit skin glue and drawn with silver point.

The fragmental inscription is one that remains of the great lyric poet Sappho, and is a matter of debate. As the Greek Language is more elliptical than any translation can provide, the fragment is a matter of debate. Sappho’s poems were almost never saved in their entirety, hence the context is one that is missing> The invocation here (if indeed it is one) is one that shifts between ‘longing’ and ‘needing’, between need and desire, and one that offers ‘fighting’, ‘grasping’ or even ‘holding’ as solution. Offered with a district typeset that that mimics didactic texts, the work ask questions of translation, transliteration and ultimately offers little in resolution. The diptych of works is one when subject is missing, but the drive to communicate is ever present and carries through. The work is made by tracing the inscription found in an Egyptian parchment in silverpoint, an old method of making something last through the years. By slowly depositing small particles of silver in a rough surface, the text continues its precarious journey, looking for a translation, and ultimately a resolution.

Text and art are both uncertain and intertwined in their histories. They are rhizomatic structures that frequently compliment each other. Both have many shared tools in their history, and a focus on encoding information to address the world around us.

This exhibition explores how the presence of language, even when unreadable to the viewer, changes an artwork. The artwork selected often questions the boundaries between art and text, and what it means to draw on the history of either, examining the role of text as a signifier, and how this can shape the way we encounter art.