Mother Tongue

About the Exhibition

Language is a universal and abstract system of sounds and symbols. Yet, the social, political and cultural contexts in which a language is spoken greatly affects its development and usages. In ever increasingly globalized societies, our sociolinguistic identity is not often singular. The language we speak at home or learned as a child – our mother tongue – may not be the same one used in our everyday lives. Mother Tongue invites us to consider the complex relationships that exist between language and identity; how it defines who we are and how it can inform visual artistic practice.

Image credits
1, 2, 4: Installation views of Mother Tongue, Varley Art Gallery of Markham, 2017. Photos: Toni Hafkenscheid.
3: Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Come Home, performance during the opening reception of Mother Tongue, 2017.