Shen Yuan, 'Diverged Tongue, 1999'
In: Shen Yuan. Edited by Sarah Campbell and Gilane Tawadros. London: Institute of International Visual Arts in collaboration with Arnolfini, Bristol, 2001,
p. 18.
Several of my installations are related to the tongue. I am interested by its associations with language and the sense of taste; it thus has both spirituality and materiality.
The piece Diverged Tongue is inspired by a child's toy, which I transformed into an installation of a tongue that rolls in and out. Hung from the ceiling, it unfurls and rolls up again once every three to four minutes. When it is rolled up, one has the feeling that it is absent; when it is extended, however, it threatens those present. Furthermore, the form of this tongue is forked. There is an old saying: 'The one with his tongue stuck out - the one with a forked tongue - speaks with a trill and the accent of a distant place. The one with a forked tongue wishes to speak two languages with one tongue, but neither language is spoken clearly.'
I use this as a metaphor for the awkward situation which every émigré frequently encounters, that of his speech being unclear. He wants to speak, but cannot express himself.