This work investigates the power of language from a post-colonial standpoint, specifically how language functioned as a tool of colonial power. In the post-colonial world, it is interesting to observe that English as a language has changed. It has become hybridized by the accents, colloquial phrases, patois, and sounds of the local mother tongues of each country.
This work comprises 79 cast iron tongues that have been allowed to rust. The rust continually changes the tongues in subtle ways. While rust can be seen as deterioration, it actually makes the metal stronger by creating a hard outer shell that protects the metal. It is symbolic of the gradual changes and local adaptations in the English language, and how post-colonial appropriation of the master’s language can undermine and subvert at least one of the master’s tools.
