“The Smile of a Snake“, George Henry Longly

@Galerie Valentin, Paris
January 21 – March 12, 2016

 

The Smile of a Snake, takes its name from a language tutorial emphasizing the pronunciation of the letter “s”. A phonetic exercise for learning English as a foreign language it also highlights problems with the physical materialization of language. (….) “S” is also the shape of the serpent, whose flexibility and musculature evoke language. A liminal motif in Longly’s work, the snake is a communication tool used in humanity’s most ancient rituals.