The following is by American artist Jenny Holzer, and is part of a display of alternating statements found in London's Tate Modern (which I recently had the pleasure of visiting). While I find her medium (that of words) a fascinating choice for a visual artist, I find the actual words just as interesting. Much of her work (in this particular display) focuses on power, violence, strength, weakness, freedom, and hatred, but it was this piece that I found the most gripping (though not, perhaps, the most jolting). I think it goes hand in hand with some interpretations of the Sermon on the Mount (found in Matthew 5-7) -- an exhortation to force tormentors to recognize the humanity of those they tread on, and the significance of their own actions.
SHRIEK WHEN THE PAIN HITS
DURING INTERROGATION. REACH
INTO THE DARK AGES TO FIND A
SOUND THAT IS LIQUID HORROR,
A SOUND OF THE BRINK WHERE
MAN STOPS AND THE BEAST
AND NAMELESS CRUEL FORCES
BEGIN. SCREAM WHEN YOUR
LIFE IS THREATENED. FORM A
NOISE SO TRUE THAT YOUR
TORMENTOR RECOGNIZES IT AS A
VOICE THAT LIVES IN HIS OWN
THROAT. THE TRUE SOUND TELLS
HIM THAT HE CUTS HIS FLESH
WHEN HE CUTS YOURS, THAT
HE CANNOT THRIVE AFTER HE
TORTURES YOU. SCREAM THAT HE
DESTROYS ALL KINDNESS IN YOU
AND BLACKENS EVERY VISION
YOU COULD HAVE SHOWN HIM.
-Jenny Holzer, "Inflammatory Language" (1979-82)
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