Projects new and old by Ruth Perry
Language and speech is an important to how street writers express themselves. Many of them disguise there work by writing their letters backwards and upside down.
I created this piece in response to my research as artist in Residency for RMWB. In my residency I explored the merging of traditional art processes and techniques with Graffiti Urban Art. My residency was to address the question of Vandalism vs Art.
Artist: Ruth Perry Title: ” Ambigram for a repressed language ” Medium: Welded steel, Electrical wires, Motor, Oak and melamine, stain and paint. Dimensions: 9 5/8″ x 8 1/2″x 5 5/8″ on a 14 1/2″ x 37″ plinth. Price: Repressed language is priceless.
An Ambigram: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia An ambigram is a word, art form or other symbolic representation, whose elements retain meaning when viewed or interpreted from a different direction, perspective, or orientation. Street writers often use their writing as an ambigram, palindrome to challenge themselves or to obscure their language.
The word used is KISIK and from Cree dictionary means sky. Hats why I also call this piece my blue sky. My influence on this piece is influenced by Bill Bertschy – Oukcha Hotusk Myo Myo from the Haida nation. He speaks eight languages. The Cree language or the street writers that struggle to be herd or thought of -led me to thinking about the traditional tongue of the Cree people.
His influence on my “KISIK” piece is one that touches my heart as one of the repression components on speech. The repression of their language and the cultural genocide of first nations does not compare to street writer language but I do believe it is a powerful message on how language can be and is repressed.
Additional notes: Graffiti is said to be by police investigators… related to mental disorders such as ADHD, OCD and dyslexia. (Source: Anti-Graffiti symposium) Marginalization or not this mental “so called disability” is close to my heart as I am dyslexic myself and was trying to understand why this mental abnormality was related to street writers and how these abnormalities decide to express themselves. My decision to use a kinetic piece comes from the need for graffiti writers to write on moving objects such as trains, trucks, and buses.