The Distance Between Want and Say

The Distance Between Want and Say examines the gap between what people want to say and what they ultimately do say.

The project began with an observation: much of social life depends upon small linguistic adjustments. Some people are better at this than others. A select few seem almost fluent in the practice of translation. As a result, direct statements become suggestions. Certainty becomes humility. Disagreement becomes curiosity. Refusal becomes delay.

Through a series of text-based works, the project treats these translations as visible structures, making it possible to examine the distance between intention and expression.

In the printed works, each translation is presented as a pair of statements: what is thought and what is said.

In installation form, the works become interactive objects whose lengths vary according to the distance being traversed. As viewers move a sliding panel from one statement to the other, they physically enact the translation. Distance becomes both subject and material.

Installation views (rendered in AI)