PROJECTS > Talk What You Know (and let the green grass grow)

Fighting Words
Fighting Words
Sequin, seed beads, canvas, thread
72" x 52"

This piece is the most recent in a much larger body of work (20 or so) experimenting with language using sequin/beads as the medium. Language can bend and stretch into wordplay, being read for multiple meanings.
The Supreme Court says the phrase Fighting Words, " by their very utterance, inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of peace." They are one of the categories of language that are not protected by the First Amendment. This work is loosely based on promotional-style banners for traveling boxing matches or side shows, a pugilism of words.
I find myself struggling or sparring with words themselves as forms of communication, as means of mis/understanding. But also, something that leaves room for a playful tussle to see how I can shift meaning as an artist and writer.
The work hangs from the ceiling like a banner and is meant to be viewed from all sides.