The Shape of Language is a transmedia project by Arshy Hernandez in collaboration with Jose Peralta that examines the complexities of language as a critical medium presented in three different forms; written, spoken, and signed. Hernandez and Peralta bring their personal experiences together to create four media that address language in the context of social development, cultural identity and overlap, and radical access.
Ironically, language can also restrict us. More than a third of the world’s population is monolingual, unable to communicate with others from different
places and cultural backgrounds. Learning another language is not easy, and becoming multilingual is a burden in itself, and sometimes results in code-switching or the balancing of two worlds.
Language defines our differences, but also can create unity. Language expands our perspectives and allows us to create community. Language is not a rock, but the water that shapes us as much as it takes the shape of us.
