Location: Take Courage Gallery. The Amersham Arms, New Cross, London.

We know that a text does not consist of a line of words, releasing a single ‘theological meaning’,
but is a space of many dimensions, in which are wedded and contested various kinds of writing, no
one of which is original.
-Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author (1977)

Tied inherently to the context of its expression, language encapsulates the precarious nature of
communication and interpretation. Equally reliant on strict codes of conduct and an assumed
intuition of the other, the intentions and definitions of words and their ideas is not an obstacle that
is easily ignored or avoided. As words such as ‘mine’, ‘desert’ and ‘fair’ imply a sense of place or
of a perceived happening in one context, their muteness upon the page can subsequently be
repurposed to more conceptual turns of phrase; that of ownership, abandonment, and the
empathetic. Ill-defined by these multifaceted forms, the dissonant methods of petrified language to
invoke emotion, imagery, and the sensical may be comparable to that of the pillaged toolbox; its
cul-de-sac of finite resources dampening the grasp for a clear explanation and proposed solution.
Unruly in its solitude without tailored expansion, literature holds a parallel to the artwork on display
- a vicarious totem of its time, potentially unequipped for conclusions outside of its intended
context. Arguably unburdened by a clear interpretation or reaction, art, like the written word, sits
within the bizarre grey area of familiar materials being put into a certain order - its subsequent
arrangement inspiring disgust, admiration, or often, confusion. Presented within the gallery, public
space, or home, the loaded symbols and terminologies of its content, both inside and outside of its
ornate frame, is thus at the mercy of the individual inhabiting the situation then and there; a
dwelling in every sense of the word.

Including works from Ivan Chambers, Davide Lakshmanasamy, and Jake Francis.

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