Untitled, 2004

installation
scheme of adhesive letters dimensions variable

“Learning a language is related not only to the understanding of a sentence structure and the meaning of the words, but also to the organization of letters. Furthermore, it is also characteristic of any language that the person calling the words with a certain sound and rhythm designates the usage of that language. Even a person learning a new language still approaches the foreign language with his/her own linguistic melody and rhythm and this phenomenon sometimes causes misunderstanding.”

Özlem Günyol’s work Untitled intends to show a different type of language in writing, which is made with pronunciations of the English words in the Turkish language, by using the explanations about the pronunciations of the words in English-Turkish dictionary. In this way, this created writing includes and excludes both languages at the same time. It is also aimed at designating the gap between the visual perception of language and practice of speaking, which depends on the way the person pronounces and attributes certain characteristics to the words belonging to his/her past.

Installation view; Städtische Galerie Nordhorn
photograph: Helmut Claus