Informal under the roof of your mouth
Heide Hinrichs
(2014)
In her practice, Heide Hinrichs aims to give up hierarchical relationships and the exploitation of material, therefore the objects that she forms, builds, and sews have no definite or absolute character themselves. A concept is not executed upon the material, instead forms and shapes are developed in a process that involves all senses and consciousness, and are mediated from the materials themselves – their sensual qualities and histories.
Inspired by the Korean Hangul alphabet (developed at the beginning of 17th century), in which the shapes of the consonants refer back to the position of the tongue in the mouth, Heide Hinrichs developed the work Informal under the roof of your mouth, referring to the space inside of the mouth between the tongue and its roof, where language and sounds are shaped. In the work, this space is materialized in the form of small clay objects that are placed on the ground on top of ink colored papers. The viewer also hears the sound of breathing while looking at the projection of black forms that are taken from those three dimensional clay objects. The work negotiates the space between the inside of the body and the outside, the transition from one to the other, and the exchange of air which is then brought into motion and ‘shaped’.