The Shape of Language is a transmedia project by Arshy Hernandez in collaboration with Jose Peralta that examines the complexities of language as a critical medium presented in three different forms; written, spoken, and signed. Hernandez and Peralta bring their personal experiences together to create four media that address language in the context of social development, cultural identity and overlap, and radical access.
Ironically, language can also restrict us. More than a third of the world’s population is monolingual, unable to communicate with others from different
places and cultural backgrounds. Learning another language is not easy, and becoming multilingual is a burden in itself, and sometimes results in code-switching or the balancing of two worlds.
Language defines our differences, but also can create unity. Language expands our perspectives and allows us to create community. Language is not a rock, but the water that shapes us as much as it takes the shape of us.
The Stream of Language
The Stream of Language is an 8.5” x 11” editorial that shares the bilingual perspective. Hernandez and Peralta are presented as illustrated characters that are weaving through an underwater landscape. The presence of water and these characters-in-journey speaks to the fluidity a bilingual person must have to navigate every day. The editorial examines bilingualism, sharing data centering on psychological and location-based impact, and historic and present-day movements around language.
Say what!?
Say What is a 25” x 27” board game, loosely based on the crossword puzzle. It is an intervention, simulating the feeling most bilingual-speaking people experience when trying to speak in another language. A second language can be a puzzle.
I Speak
The I Speak motion series is a time-based media that includes a series of 2-3 minute interviews from Filipino and Dominican cultures. The interviewees speak in their native or second language, focusing on their bilingual experience and associated challenges.
Silent Voices
The Silent Voices is an 18” x 24” triptych-poster series focused on sign language. The posters will greet guests using American Sign Language (ASL), Filipino Sign Language (FSL), and Dominican Sign Language (DSL). Each poster shares instructions on how to perform the sign language and has speech bubbles that translate the meaning of the sign. This series hopes to make learning sign language engaging and fun for those not familiar with it and to be warm greetings for the signing community.
