Impermanence

Language is especially impermanent to a third-culture kid. It is malleable and ever-changing. However, it is one of the closest things to a constant ‘place’ for me. It is a lifeline that connects me to a physical ‘place’ and beyond.

Xu Bing is an artist that plays with the role, purpose, and reality of language. Square Word Calligraphy is a project in which he adapted Latin alphabets into the shape of hanzi. Originally, this work intended to challenge the habitual thinking of how we process languages. In this case, English speakers experienced estrangement from their language and had to re-familiarise themselves with this new written system.

I resonate with this writing system.

I do not appear as to how I am observed.

I never quite fully assimilated into either culture.

Yet, I am just enough to be understood.