Emma Hauck born in 1878 Germany was emitted to a psychiatric hospital in 1909 for dementia praecox. She spent her days writing a series of letters to her husband that were later considered to be artworks after her death. She wasn't an artist, though her letters were so powerful that they were considered to be pieces or art, and I couldn’t agree more.
I was captured intensely by an untitled letter to her husband, repeating the phrase "come, sweetheart" pleading that he come and take her home to him and their two daughters.
The repetition is almost suffocating and incredibly heart-breaking. The desperation is shown through the frantic layer upon layer of the same painfully sweet phrase. The tenderness of the words being so gutting against the harsh overlapping of the letters, so much so that the words become impossible to read and almost meaningless.
I receive so much from these small words, loss, torture of the mind, sorrow, loneliness, hopelessness. There is so much impact, and arguably so much more from some other artworks I have seen that use only the stroke of a brush.
Words are beautiful, and not given enough credit in the art world. I have always been encouraged to not include words in my artworks. Being told it diminished the artwork's meaning or distracted from the scene at hand. However, I couldn't disagree more, words stir up a painting in ways a brush stroke never could. There is something definite about words, a solid wall that calls for no interpretation or argument. It is the artist telling you something that cannot be twisted, a fact or emotion they are putting in your face with no looking from it.
Words come from the soul, whether it's intentional or not. For example, recently I found out that writing with your less dominant hand can help you tap into the childlike side of your mind. Allowing your mind to rest and simply let your heart speak for itself, without formality, without fear of judgement, like a child again.
Text in artwork is so refreshing to me, I am so tired of seeing artworks that are too left up to interpretation. To me they can go too far, be too bland that no-one can connect to them at all. Words are so prominent, whether you agree or disagree with what they are saying, they are undeniable.
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