Dead Languages

Once I had my alphabet, I took inspiration from traditional Nonya jewelry and created these laser cut templates in Adobe Illustrator. The final pieces were laser cut out of wood and gilded with a thin layer of fake gold foil to emulate the jewelry.

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I started this project by taking pictures of cracks and chipped paint that I found around my house. I then sketched over those cracks and looked for unusual/interesting shapes and symbols.

From the symbols and shapes I found, I started to create my fictional alphabet. The first place I drew inspiration from was Viking runestones, which often used a Germanic writing system known as Elder Futhark. One of the primary functions of runestones was to commemorate the great deeds of the dead and to offer final prayers. In particular, I liked how the tangible, carved nature of runestones matched the cracks and chips that I found on my walk. When creating my language I aimed to create symbols that shared the bold simplicity of Elder Futhark, so they could be carved more easily.

great deal of information concerning Fulu, it is a very distinctive visual, with red vertical writing on a rectangular yellow paper. Usually, they are used as charms for protection, luck and wealth. The symmetrical structure of the Fu is very distinctive and that is how I chose to incorporate it into my language. The layout of my symbols is meant to emulate the talismans format, bringing a more structured formal atmosphere to the more organic strokes.

As an artist I tend to approach my work through a world building perspective, constructing a place for my art to exist that informs how the art is constructed. In this project I envisioned a world much like our own hundreds of years ago, inspired by the Ancient Romans, Taoism and the Vikings. In this patriarchal society, women are rarely granted positions of power. Much like the ancient Romans, the only positions of prestige available were as priestesses who were sworn to give their life to their gods. Even in these positions of influence, their power was limited and they were bound to tradition. Once their use as a priestess was exhausted, they were treated as disposable, and were sentenced to death by live burial. My work captures their final moments, sitting in a dark underground chamber, draped in elaborate jewelry and resigned to their fate.