EUPHEMISMS FOR THE INTIMATE ENEMY, 2008

Ruark Lewis - Sydney, Australia

Multimedia Installation

Constructed of five hundred and fifty 55 gallon drums, this architectural scale installation explores the limits of language and its capacity to adequately convey meaning in the cross-cultural context. Drawing on the post-colonial texts of the Indain post-colonial theorist Ashis Nandy, Lewis isolates ‘abject words’, puzzling statements, euphemisms and aphorisms whose meanings are unclear or uncertain. Transcribed as sound and form, the abject text is transformed, animated, and offers itself in an experimental relationship between (non)sense and poetry, creating a new space for cross-cultural engagement.

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

www.ruarklewis.com

Suitable for all ages