"Syllabary, 2013" is central to the development of a new model of representation for language and concepts. The symbols listed are elements that when put together make concepts much like words and letters.
The first column on the left comprises a list of representations of single consonantal phonetic sound units. The top row is a list of single vowel phonemes, which are the unrestricted flow sounds (ah, eh, ih, aw, oh, ooh, and the diphthongs au and ae). Consonants provide a mold for unrestricted vocal cord movements, creating other phonological units such as syllables. All other signs on the chart are combinations of restrictions followed by unrested sounds, creating perfect syllables or a consonant followed by a vowel. For example the second row reads: B’, BA, BEH, BI, BAW, BO, BOOH, BAU, BAE.
"Syllabary, 2013" represents the ultimate colonization and peak refinement of once finger-painted symbols in ecstatic performance based on ancient archetypal possession rituals and autohypnosis. Now the language has been completely codified, unified, and homogenized in order to propagate ultimate trust, however thinly veiled it may be as one-sided colonialist control. Matt Mullican’s process and craftsmanship serve as an important point of contemporary contextualization for this piece in particular.
"Syllabary, 2013" has been exhibited at Maryland Art Place (MAP) in Baltimore, MD; Colors of Humanity Online Gallery; and Washington College Gallery, curated by Prof. Tara Gliden. This piece is accompanied by a sound component as each symbol has a phonetic attribution.
