Labor and power are the root of communication. Exploring how these forces inform language establishes the essential context for my work. This relationship is first distilled through a series of charcoal drawings that aims at the core of written language: the arrangement of marks that forms each letter. Extracted from these drawings come stories, environments, and dialogues in video and interactive media that further my analysis the dynamics of language, power, and labor. Language is a shared tool, but is also creates perceptual class divisions. The standardization of language pits communities against one another by forming artificial divisions enforced by notions of correctness. The obfuscation of form and content present in my work mirror the manipulations language undergoes when it is used to reinforce class divisions and capital’s power over labor. These manipulations are exacted with the aim of highlighting the abuse of labor by language and capital.
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In Solidarity from Maren Henson on Vimeo.
Meeting of A and B from Maren Henson on Vimeo.
The letter A and the letter B meet and converse for the first time. The audio is from their written sounds mimicked by a human voice.
Living In Letters from Maren Henson on Vimeo.
The drawings on the wall are of each letter of the english alphabet. I have recorded the making of each drawing and ran them through a program called Max/MSP, this program allows for the piece to be interactive. Once a person is in front of any drawing, the movement triggers the program and plays the sound of that drawing.