Artist Statement

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Silent Voice – Inferno is an art piece I created for W.I.R. III./2022, under the theme “Pause”, curated by Herbert W.H. Hundrich. My work was hung from the ceiling in the middle of the village church, Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Herzfeld at Karrenzin in Germany.

 

The work, Silent Voice – Inferno, is a 60 meters long narrow canvas strip printed with a sound wave image. The image was converted from the voice of an Italian audiobook, La Divina Commedia (begun c.1308, completed in 1320), written by Dante Alighieri (1265, Florence, Italy – 1321, Ravenna, Italy). I borrowed its first part, Inferno, as my art piece's theme.

 

Inferno reveals the eternal punishment of sins such as greed, self-deception, political double-dealing, violence, fraud and treachery. Indeed, wickedness happens not only in Dante's epic poem but daily in the past, the present and the future.

 

Furthermore, for any reason, talking about sin or evildoing could be taboo, depending on the authorities of culture, religion, tradition, political orientation, etc.

 

Hence, in Silent Voice – Inferno, I transformed the voice about unrighteousness into a soundless sound wave image. It represented the forbidden and restricted voices that vanished and could not be spoken or heard, even though they existed all along between us.

 

It is time to pause and listen to our inner voice, re-examining the damage caused by political crises though it is incredibly challenging and painful.

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Wai Kit Lam

Hong Kong

7.2022

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