







Caesura
In the development of the work, ‘Caesura’ the artist explores how language can be translated through the body, questioning the idea that any visual expression or documentation of life and culture prior to complex writing systems was ‘primitive.’The title of work references the word ‘pause’ in Latin, and this ‘caesura’’ was used by ancient Greek poets in the dactylic hexameter in classical literature to mark where one phrase ends and another phrase begins. The title also references the emperor, Caesar, who was assassinated by his own people in the name of ‘civilisation’ , and ‘caesus’ the latin word for ‘cut’.
The artist translates the sentence ‘Civilisation Did Not Begin With The Written Expression’ into Ogham script and uses the script as dance notation for choreography. The work will be developed into a performance with different bodies, translating text to movements, working through a space, moving around each other, imagining a world where movement through Ogham was the only means of communication.
Although the work references symbols that may have been transcribed using the hand, the Ogham script and symbols were representative of indigenous trees and shrubs of Ireland and were etched into stones and tree bark in the landscape, indicating that the people were intricately linked to the land and surrounding natural world. Through this work, the artist aims to highlight the loss of this relationship due to patriarchal systems within society that have undermined the spiritual connection that our ancestors have had with the land to make way for ‘civilization’, capitalization and globalization.