In the work “The Whisper Heard” Imogen Stidworthy (UK) presents Severin Domela, aged three, who is in the process of learning to speak, and Tony O’Donnell who has aphasia, a condition following a stroke that affects the language faculty of the brain. Stidworthy recites a text for both of them and they are asked to repeat it. O’Donnell voices his thoughts while trying to give meaning to the words he hears. He can understand the meaning of the story but not the individual semantic expressions. As he listens he translates the text and finds new words for this meaning. Domela repeats what he hears and because he is in the process of learning he can engage with whatever linguistic meaning he can grasp and sometimes also the form or sound of the language. For both of them language is not necessarily connected to content, but rather to form and sound, to Stidworthy’s facial expressions and voice.
The text Stidworthy recites to O’Donnell and Domela is an excerpt from Jules Vernes’ ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’, the story of a hero, Axel, who goes on an adventure with his uncle, a scientist, into the heart of the earth. In the chapter that Stidworthy recites Axel has just woken from unconsciousness and he must now navigate a path up and out of a labyrinth of underground tunnels. He loses contact with the outside world and no longer trusts his senses. He hears his uncle calling out to him but eventfully loses his way entirely. In ‘The Whisper Heard’ language loses its ability to determine meaning. Language is disassembled into sounds and voices through O’Donnell and Domela’s translation and imitation, as they emphasize the gap between it and the world it describes. It becomes a source of uncertainty because of the process it undergoes with each of the participants. ‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth’ also shows how the uncle’s voice, the voice of authority and knowledge, loses its ability to describe the world and how Axel must rely on his own powers to translate what he sees and give it meaning.
The CDA's archives are operating with the support of the Ostrovsky Family Fund and Artis
