Conversation on Bench (1)

These sign language sculptures examine physical imprints of conversations in sign language and the hands as linguistic mediators. The sculptures were formed by speaking (signing with the hands) in buckets of wet clay to create negative moulds which were then filled with plaster. The spontaneous shapes of the words have ended and only the imprints remain.

We often remember a place where we have had a special conversation. Maybe with an important person, or maybe it was the conversation itself that was important. The individual words disappear from our memories, while the external shapes of them continue to exist for a long time. In the same way, the sculptures gradually wear down, until finally there is only a stain of plaster remaining, a ‘something’ that existed on this bench once upon a time.