Mother Language

mounir fatmi
Mother Language, 2017
Steel blade and cut outs
Work: 150 cm

In fatmi’s new sculptural work, titled Mother Language, a circular steel blade is inscribed with phrases written (or laser cut) in Arabic calligraphy. The phrase, which the letters spell, is impossible to make out entirely; rather it consists of fragments, of ideas, of words, of meaning. On the other end, the holes that remain from the cut outs cast shadows on ground to re-form the phrase.