Limits of my Language

The Phaistos disc is a Bronze age clay disk with indecipherable signs. We traced the signs to create a series of glyphs and reproduced the disc digitally

The Phaistos disc is a clay disk from the Bronze age imprinted with indecipherable signs. We traced these signs to create a series of glyphs that introduce a layer of miscommunication into the design. Alongside this we researched attempts for objective communication in written language. We were interested in how the traceable type used to teach handwriting is positioned as an ideal form of writing with no possibility for miscommunication. Drawing from alphabet worksheets we designed a custom display typeface used throughout the identity. 'the limits of my language' is a group exhibition with artists chloe brenan, elaine gart and johanna nulty. A conversation commences; a dialogue through structure, sound and film in an attempt to articulate tacit knowledge, haptic memory and subconscious experience. Language spoken or written can be constricting. There are often rules and codes that must be adhered to when expressing oneself and interpreting others. What we cannot talk about, due to the limitations of language, is often passed over in silence. This inability to express the personal, innate and intimate forces us to find an alternative way to communicate what is being left unsaid The exhibition didn't go ahead due to lockdown, the exhibiton was adapted as a series of postcards. We choose postcards, to give a sense of proximity to the space as well as providing a reference to languge and communication through a physical network suchas the postal service. The work was accompanied by a commisioned writer Michaela Nash. The traced glyphs punctuated the text as well as were provided as a series of stickers. The postcards acted as a keepsake and a letter from the gallery, a sort of wish you were here. The project through the signifiant limitations placed on us throughout the lockdown, became much more poiniant as language was quite literally limited and the act of communicating the exhibiton through words became the most pertinent method of communication. This work was produced under Models and Constructs with the designer Jamie Smyth

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