SHE/HE (liminal #6) by Gary Hill

SHE/HE (liminal #6)2023

Silkscreen on Rives BFK paper29 x 41 in / 73.7 x 104.1 cmEdition of 5, 2 AP

Gary Hill's Engender Project examines language through a range of personal pronouns. On display as both sculpture and screen prints, the series combines two pronouns using logical gates. Logical gates, typically referenced within electronic circuitry, receive two incoming currents, compare them, and then return a new, outgoing current. The works utilize Boolean Logic upon sets of pronouns as written on the page. A digital system/language is being applied representations of gender which could be viewed as an “analog” element of identity. Hill works with pairs of pronouns taken from the spectrum, the most obvious being SHE and HE. Each pair is laid out using a bold font and all in capital letters. The two words are always centered and then are processed using a set of 5 logic functions: XOR, AND, OR, A-B and B-A. No longer are the “pronouns” pronounceable per se, they can only be “read” or perhaps decoded is a better word. After the mathematical procedure, the combined words/pronouns begin to take on a Hieroglyphic appearance. In a rather strange way, the visualization of the pronouns through gates begins to mirror the complexity and depth not only of questions concerning gender identity but also of language and linguistics.

Paper Print

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