Say it Sweetly, Say it Sharply (2010)

This experimental piece uses tongue twisters as an avenue to articulate three salient points: disorienting nature of articulation of a language unfamiliar to them, points of friction as one wrestles with nuances of a dominant culture as they feel like they’re being surveilled, and language wielded as a weapon (in the US). The split-screen displays two videos, one of text and one of soundwaves (depicted by an oscilloscope). Each reflect the other as the text underscores a tongue twister as spoken while the soundwaves illustrate the building friction between the internal and external dialogues. Together they paint a robust picture of the personal, cultural, and political aspects of the English language in the US.

Tongue twisters are commonly used by speech therapists to hone articulation and diminish supposed speech impediments. The act of perfecting one’s pronunciation of a new language by modifying how one’s tongue initially grew to know language underscores the bold change a person goes through to adjust to a new context.

Finally, these tongue twisters attempt to integrate play through the association of grade school rhymes. The gradual introduction to each tongue twister and its associations invite the viewer to try their hand at one, the discrete soundtrack to this piece.

This was my senior thesis and part of SAIC's BFA show in Chicago, IL spring 2010.