Artist: Bassel, Milcah

FATHER TONGUE is a multi-disciplinary project based on five characters from the Hebrew alphabet that each consist of a single right angle. Their identity as readable letters is challenged as their orientation is repeatedly flipped and the spaces between them collapse and expand. The project began with a handmade paper edition developed at a residency at the Brodsky Center supported by an NEA grant (fall, 2014). This was followed by a sound piece exploring the vocal abstraction of the same letters and a reference to Genesis 1, the biblical source that describes the elements of the first day of creation: chaos, light, and dark. As HBI artist-in-residence (spring, 2015) the project expanded for a solo exhibition at Kniznick Gallery (Brandeis University), becoming a vast mural, a series of drawings on paper, and a live durational vocal and movement performance.