Search For A Common language

The word ‘language’ is used metaphorically in this painting to convey ‘understanding’. When we ask each other to ‘speak with one voice’ we do necessarily mean that those particular words be identical. The universal search for understanding between different nations transcends language and cannot be achieved merely by translating symbols. A ‘common language’ is more accurately described in the expression ‘speaking heart to heart’, or ‘reading between the lines’ therefore a truly shared language is one that is unspoken. The recognisable symbols of English script used as a texture within which to embed the figures are just as meaningless, in the conventional sense, to English speakers as they are to those who do not speak that language, therefore they serve to conceal as much as they have the potential to reveal. The figures are used symbolically, in a similar way, as representations of humanity with no particular nationality or geographical reference points, all traces of visceral connection to life withheld. They are, in effect, effigies or puppets. They take their cue from the viewer who is invited to use them as conduits for their own thoughts and dreams, and in this way they will become representatives for all those intuitive messages that cannot be expressed by words alone.