Art Metropole

#16978

Esse Issue No 118: Tongues

Price

$15.50

Date

2026

Publisher

Esse

Format

Periodicals

Size

24 × 30 cm

Genre

Canadian, Contemporary Art

Soft, moist, and flexible, tongues are muscles that allow for flavour detection, licking, singing or speech. Tongues also refer to linguistic community systems of vocal and graphic signs which form words, sentences, and meaning. The overlap between anatomy and linguistics, between physical tongue and instrument of communication, shapes this issue. Both aspects intertwine in an exploration of identity issues, the tongue being what most connects us to our history and culture. The reflections and artworks presented respond to the theme by slipping between tongues, from sensory organ to language, from a mother tongue to a chosen or perhaps imposed second language, sometimes standing between cultures and territories, oscillating between marginalized and colonial languages, but also, above all, by opting for a bridge language.

Cover: Lenora de Barros