THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF MT. PHILO
Made up of images that highlight naturally occurring rock glyphs found on Mt. Philo,
The Secret Language of Mt. Philo is a conceptual installation whereby a new language is introduced, decoded and made relevant through the medium of art and, specifically, utilizing technology and new mixed media to bridge this ancient language with our modern mind. Showing the natural progression of written language from the full storied glyph pictoral imagery of original language, to our more abbreviated current alphabet - As humanity reached beyond our individual tribes into the world at large, language was scribed, shortened and translated to find a common means of expression and understanding. The image of a goat, became curved horns, then, eventually, the letter G, and so on. The Secret Language of Mt. Philo serves as a bridge, finding both ancient imagery and our current alphabet resting inside her rocks. We visit the construction of language and how inspiration might have come from visual markings and patterns of our surrounding landscape.
This installation consists of the following components:
1. 26 highlighted new mixed media images bring our alphabet up from the rocks.
2. The original 26 unaltered images of these rocks creating the bridge Philo glyph alphabet,
are displayed beneath the larger new mixed media images, printed, framed and exhibited together.
3. A poem about Mt. Philo "Where It Goes When We Are Not Looking" is presented both in the
English language and, translated into the new glyph language - Philo.
4. A visually stunning and fast flash picture show of the original 287 photographs taken of glyphs on
Mt. Philo, to be shown on the back drop of a boulder as projection screen.
5. A man made glyph image with GPS coordinates for an interactive “Go to Mt. Philo and find
the glyph that is not really like the others” treasure hunt.
6. An interactive translation app - type words in and they appear in Philo.
Where did written language as we know it come from? Was it from our deep curiosity or a need to communicate to others beyond our own tribe? Original languages were abbreviations of pictorial art, made up of lines and shapes, “glyphs” indicating what the scribe/artist was referring to. Where might our languages be going next?
The purpose of this installation is to highlight symbols that occur in nature that may hold a key to how initial languages were formed and developed by pulling reoccurring images out of the natural environment and into our psyche. The images are there, subconsciously we see them, and, eventually, consciously choose particular shapes to relate with and include as a means to communicate the collective understanding of form and connection: These become our icons, symbols and common language. Both non glyph languages and modern expressionist works are often made up of a translated abbreviated form of this ancient imagery. We take these embedded symbols and mold them into words and deeper visual understanding.
The Secret Language of Mt. Philo is a conceptual installation whereby a new language is introduced, decoded and made relevant through the medium of art and, specifically, utilizing technology and new mixed media to bridge this ancient language with our modern mind. Showing the natural progression of written language from the full storied glyph pictoral imagery of original language, to our more abbreviated current alphabet - As humanity reached beyond our individual tribes into the world at large, language was scribed, shortened and translated to find a common means of expression and understanding. The image of a goat, became curved horns, then, eventually, the letter G, and so on. The Secret Language of Mt. Philo serves as a bridge, finding both ancient imagery and our current alphabet resting inside her rocks. We visit the construction of language and how inspiration might have come from visual markings and patterns of our surrounding landscape.
This installation consists of the following components:
1. 26 highlighted new mixed media images bring our alphabet up from the rocks.
2. The original 26 unaltered images of these rocks creating the bridge Philo glyph alphabet,
are displayed beneath the larger new mixed media images, printed, framed and exhibited together.
3. A poem about Mt. Philo "Where It Goes When We Are Not Looking" is presented both in the
English language and, translated into the new glyph language - Philo.
4. A visually stunning and fast flash picture show of the original 287 photographs taken of glyphs on
Mt. Philo, to be shown on the back drop of a boulder as projection screen.
5. A man made glyph image with GPS coordinates for an interactive “Go to Mt. Philo and find
the glyph that is not really like the others” treasure hunt.
6. An interactive translation app - type words in and they appear in Philo.
Where did written language as we know it come from? Was it from our deep curiosity or a need to communicate to others beyond our own tribe? Original languages were abbreviations of pictorial art, made up of lines and shapes, “glyphs” indicating what the scribe/artist was referring to. Where might our languages be going next?
The purpose of this installation is to highlight symbols that occur in nature that may hold a key to how initial languages were formed and developed by pulling reoccurring images out of the natural environment and into our psyche. The images are there, subconsciously we see them, and, eventually, consciously choose particular shapes to relate with and include as a means to communicate the collective understanding of form and connection: These become our icons, symbols and common language. Both non glyph languages and modern expressionist works are often made up of a translated abbreviated form of this ancient imagery. We take these embedded symbols and mold them into words and deeper visual understanding.