The installation consists of a set of fifteen cabinets containing the collection of words. The borrowed from entomology method of keeping insects in glass showcases is used here in order to create the peculiar collection of specimens, which are the words. Each word is treated as the living organism – an individual specimen. Similarly to an entomologist catching and preparing insects, here the artist is hunting for words and making attempts to prepare their meaning.
All exhibited in showcases words are imprinted by the stone matrix. The lithographic print, apart from being a medium of ideas and meanings, has yet another one, very important function – it is the medium of memory. Captured, found, granted, quoted and prepared words comprise the memory – a private collection.
The KAM HAM title refers to the most noble, in the opinion of language psychologists, jewel of human speech – two syllables from the Stone Age: ‘kam’ and ‘ham’. They represent a root of the word denoting a stone.
Photos: Remigiusz Kuczuba
Translation: Hanna Piątkiewicz