ISBN 9789395073745|Hardcover|304 pages|2022|Context
Conceived in dialogue with artist Shilpa Gupta's eponymous multimedia installation, For, in Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit brings together many of the poets featured in the installation—every one of them persecuted for their words. The result is an anthology that speaks truth to power and is a testament to the community of words.
Delivery: We are a small, independent bookstore and shipping times may be slightly longer than usual.
Please allow 2-4 business days for your order to be processed and shipped. We appreciate your patience.
We will notify you by email as soon as your order ships.
Print on demand publications require additional preparation. See the shipping section below for details.
Conceived in dialogue with artist Shilpa Gupta’s eponymous multimedia installation, For, in Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit brings together many of the poets featured in the installation—every one of them persecuted for their words. It is an immersive experience, featuring illustrations and images alongside the written pieces. It is also the culmination of an effort of collaboration and support, often under extremely difficult conditions, forming a network that spans countries. The result is an anthology that speaks truth to power and is a testament to the community of words.
Shilpa Gupta’s multi-channel immersive sound installation For, In Your Tongue, I Cannot Fit is the outcome of a years-long research project into persecuted poets across time and geographies.The physical installation spans over 3,000 square feet and includes 100 microphones suspended from the ceiling. They play an audio loop of snippets of poems whose authors have been subjected to imprisonment, detainment, and execution. The poems are dated from the eighth century to contemporary times and are read in languages including English, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Azeri, and Hindi, allowing visitors to experience over a thousand years of global poetry in an hour. With this work, Gupta gives the microphone back to those who were rendered voiceless. As the artist put it herself, “Often, as it is happening right now, the voices of the truth cause discomfort and are cut off, yet the echo remains and continues to be heard.”
As in the book, the installation was accompanied by other pieces such as drawings with empty spaces representing the victims of forced disappearances and objects (represented by photographs in the book) reflecting on the lives of the poets. Besides the verses by the 100 incarcerated poets that were originally part of the installation, the book also contains reflections on our times when “truth is tying its shoelaces, even as lies have already spread far and wide…” by the likes of Salil Tripathi, a New York-based writer, who is also a member of PEN International’s board. Other such pieces by Jennifer Clement (The Act of Writing a Poem is in Itself an Act of Revolution), Gautam Bhatia (You Can’t Always Say What You Want: Free Speech and the Law), Karthika Nair (Handbook for Aspiring Autocrats) and Umar Khalid’s Prison Diaries are themselves quite telling, speaking of how the State feels threatened when a poet or writer does not conform to societal norms.
Editors:
Shilpa Gupta and Salil Tripathi
ISBN:
9789395073745
Binding:
Hardcover
Pages:
304
Year of Publication:
2022
Publisher:
Context
Edition:
First
Condition:
New
Country of Origin:
United States of America
About the Author
Born in 1976, Mumbai-based Shilpa Gupta has created complex research-based works that are interactive and participatory using new media, robotic works, lights, photographs and motorised mechanisms. She incorporates text, drawings, objects, sound and video.
Salil Tripathi is a writer and former journalist based in New York. He is a member of PEN International's board.
Shipping
This book will be shipped in 2-4 working days’ time. The time taken for you to receive the book after it is shipped will depend upon the mode you choose, while completing your purchase. The rates applicable for each mode are different.
You will be informed after the order is shipped.
Shipping costs depend on the mode chosen, the weight of the item, and the distance it will travel to reach its destination. Shipping costs will be charged depending on the weight of the entire purchase (if more than one book is purchased). The same shipping mode will apply to all products in such a case.