How to Speak my Mother’s Caring Words is a collection of text messages in Bengali from Paean’s mother, asking about her daughter’s day and health while she was away. The phrases are projected alongside their English phonetic spellings so they can be spoken aloud by both Bengali and non-Bengali speakers.
Through transliteration, Sarkar explores language preservation in immigrant households and diaspora communities. Sometimes humorous, the work is always an invitation to engage with a language that may not be one’s own.
Audience familiarity with Bengali will shape their engagement, yet the universal sentiment of maternal love and care remains present regardless of linguistic access—through looking, reading, or repeating.
Artist
Throughout her practice, Paean Sarkar has been interested in the aesthetics and politics of absence. This public façade projection provides a new material dimension to tease out ideas of absence and presence.
Exhibition Details
Untitled by Paean Sarkar
On display nightly, 5:30pm – 11:30pm
420 Brunswick Street, Judith Wright Arts Centre, Fortitude Valley
