A dialogue
In January 2023, I invited my mother and brother to participate in an experiment where they would communicate solely through paint and painting gestures, without using any spoken language. The only rule was that they would perform one gesture at a time, taking as much time as needed and stopping whenever they felt they had nothing more to express. I filmed parts of this interaction and compiled a short video.
Later that month, we watched the video together. I asked each of them to explain, from their own perspective, what was happening during their dialogue. I recorded and transcribed this second real-time conversation.
In April, I revisited their second conversation and reversed their roles. I then asked them to have another dialogue using only paint and painting gestures. However, this time the dialogue was not free-form but based entirely on the script I had created, with my brother expressing my mother’s voice and vice versa. This second dialogue was also filmed.
The resulting "paintings" were presented alongside videos of the two "dialogues," the transcript of the real-time conversation, and the script that formed the basis of the second "dialogue," where their voices from the initial real-time conversation were switched.
Later that month, we watched the video together. I asked each of them to explain, from their own perspective, what was happening during their dialogue. I recorded and transcribed this second real-time conversation.
In April, I revisited their second conversation and reversed their roles. I then asked them to have another dialogue using only paint and painting gestures. However, this time the dialogue was not free-form but based entirely on the script I had created, with my brother expressing my mother’s voice and vice versa. This second dialogue was also filmed.
The resulting "paintings" were presented alongside videos of the two "dialogues," the transcript of the real-time conversation, and the script that formed the basis of the second "dialogue," where their voices from the initial real-time conversation were switched.
From this perspective, the canvas on the right represents the mother’s 'voice' as expressed in the first dialogue. The canvas on the left portrays the mother’s 'voice' as interpreted by the brother in the second dialogue.
From this perspective, the canvas at the back represents the brother’s 'voice' as expressed in the first dialogue, while the canvas at the front captures the brother’s 'voice' as interpreted by the mother in the second dialogue.
