Speaking Clinic. video installation
23.5 x 32 x 50 inch. phone, 4’38” single-channel video, fabric, aluminum, and LED magnifying lens. 2022 - 2023
Speaking Clinic (2023) captures and visualizes the moments of my speaking clinic session at the English Language Institute for international students. Drawing from post-colonial discourses on language and illness, I metaphorically link a speaking clinic's attempt to fix a "wrong" foreign accent with an oral examination meant to identify and eliminate dental "problems." The magnified view of the mouth, which strenuously pronounces challenging English words, enables the audience to closely observe the associated anxiety, fear, diligence, and/or frustration of foreigners who continuously fail to speak "better" and eventually become "vulnerable."