Words connect us. They fill the space that’s left between us and pull us closer together. Words are all around us, on the tip of your tongue, and the edge of my ear. We speak and hear them every day.
But imagine if you couldn’t speak, if you couldn’t use words to convey your thoughts and emotions to others. How frustrating it must be to get others to understand you!
After his stroke, Kevin Robb was left with the ability to pronounce only certain vowel sounds and letters. So conversations with this artist are kept to a minimum.
But that doesn’t stop Kevin from expressing himself in his art! He may not be able to give speeches about his technique or explain what went into creating his sculptures, but he does communicate his ideas through his art.
Take the Lingo sculptures –both made of stainless steel, 34 and 50 inches in height respectively. They feature two ribbons of solid steel surrounded and connected by other ribbons of steel with letters cut out of them. The letter ribbons playfully dance around them and create a world for just those two.
Because lingo, after all, are usually foreign words spoken by a specific group of people. It is something that is unique to one place or community, and even to one relationship. We all have words or phrases that mean something different with the ones that we love, our own special jargon that we wouldn’t share with anyone else.
The Lingo sculptures capture this sense of intimacy and familiarity and communicate that even though Kevin may not be able to pronounce every letter of the alphabet, he still has a language and dialect to speak that is understood by those who know his lingo.
Guest blogger Sarah Ampleman
