gro petersen  
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Language is one of the most important means of transport we have. Language can take you to new places, but it can also run you over, crush you. Abandon you. In some situations, you’re left wordless. I have always been fascinated by how people use words together. How people listen, or not. How people argue, interrupt, complement, build up, break down or dominate using language. Language transports our relations to new places.

When I was introduced to the word idiolect, I felt that something fell into place regarding myself and my relationship to language. Dialect, which means the way that a whole group of people speak, is the opposite of idiolect. Idiolect is the way one individual speaks.

For me, my visual language is the safest means of transport there is. In that world I can always open new rooms without being afraid. My series of pictures are like travelling long distances at a pace I’m comfortable with. If I have to talk about, or write about my pictures, it’s like having to get into a race car and step on the gas on a bumpy country road, or having to drive the train and not have the tracks go in the direction I want.

I probably would have managed travelling that way too, even if it seems like taking unnecessary detours. And I guess that’s exactly what I’m doing now, as I’ve been asked to articulate an artist statement. But I’ve always been fascinated by unexpected detours and digressions and I’m sure I’ll get to the point in the end.
 

      all pictures © gro petersen