Conversations in Syntax
abaca paper, thread, letterpress, clamshell box | 9-7/8″ x 12-1/4″ x 1-3/8″ | 2012
Conversations in Syntax: An Analysis of 28 Sentences
This piece explores the syntax of various conversational exchanges through a charting system for overheard dialogs. Sentences are collected, coded by color, and diagrammed through stitches, providing a schematic index of interpersonal encounters. The diagrammatic system used is one invented for the project in which nested boxes represent the organization of individual words into phrases, themselves part of larger phrases. The nested boxes, along with the technique of hand stitching, suggest the mereological relationship between words and phrases. The unbound structure allows the sentence diagrams to be rearranged, creating new, imagined dialogs.