ABCD…XYZ!!_2014

Non-native English speakers, especially those from third-world countries, face stern linguistic barriers in the West. Language itself becomes a means of control, rejection and discrimination. ABCD…XYZ is a video-performance by the artist that unveils the dissonance caused by the masters' language and is a declaration of resistance.

The video-performance opens with the artist’s unnerving voice singing to the tune of a popular nursery rhyme, while the viewer watches a zoomed-in shot of the lower half of the artist’s face. The rhyme is known as the alphabet song, and it is often used to teach young children the English alphabet. However, the artist has inserted the phrase “if you don't like it, go to hell”. The artist holds up alphabets crafted out of ice and then crushes them between her teeth– re-enacting the literal process of breaking the ice. As she consumes the frigid letters, she almost chokes on them and spits them out, her mouth contorting due to the cold temperature. The viewers watch this excruciating performance repeat itself over and over again as the haunting rhyme in the background works its way through each letter of the alphabet.

The English alphabet suffocates the artist– the letters are clearly rejected as she chokes on them, but the artist is forced to consume them over and over again. Mastering the language is necessary to survive in the West. As the video progresses, the sequences grow choppy and abrupt, the song's tempo increasing. The video ends with the artist regurgitating the ice cubes as she gasps for breath, signifying her ultimate rejection of the language.