Linguists estimate that half of the world’s languages will disappear this century. New York City is a living language lab where there are more spoken and endangered languages than anywhere else in the world. New York is home to over 700 languages, and many of these are in danger of being lost. The images in this series are part of the Mother Tongues exhibition which can be seen at City Lore Gallery in New York City through April, 2015. This Endangered Language Series is part of the exhibition's call to action to preserve the world's linguistic diversity and an exploration of the richness inhabiting all languages.
The portraits were made in and around New York City between July 2014 and January 2015. All images were taken with a circa 1930's Eastman view camera on 5x7 inch black & white film and then digitally altered. This series is part of a larger project entitled The Exile Project: portraits of people who live in one language but have their hearts in another. The subjects in this series are, for a variety of reasons, existing in a language other than that of their birth. Some are political exiles and refugees, some are indigenous exiles in their own homeland, some are simply immigrants far from home. Each person is asked to consider the basic question: what happens to the mother tongue when it exists, separated or unused, in a state of cultural isolation? The responses form handwritten quotes which are then etched into the image. In this way text and body are juxtaposed to form culturally revealing yet highly personal narratives. The portraits are made with as much simplicity as possible; all are photographed with antique cameras at 1 second shutter speeds, the mechanism of the camera is not used to freeze or capture a "moment," instead, the shutter is held open, and the projection of stillness through space and time flows from the person being photographed.
