The Glass Tongue Contest

Our first winner for the prose/poetry category is Cally Lim's "When The Dead Return". The artist detailed the following to us: 

"My poem is very hard to read as it's mean to be a very indirect contrapuntal poems commenting on the brutality of mutilated and undignifying deaths Palestinians suffer and worse, organ trafficking done by Israelis, while dead Israelis tend to be more reported in the media. The poem initially reads with the left column itself to show the less number of deaths compared to the number of Palestinian deaths, and the second column is read on the footnotes area, and the third way of reading it all in entirety is to match the phrases up to the line based on numbered footnotes, as if finding pieces to the censored puzzle amidst the buried mass Graves of white space conveyed by the box of numbers in the Palestinian deaths column. I wrote this piece to reflect the jarring and petrifying reality Palestinians suffer even after death, and I hope that it's something to remind of everyone that Israel must be held accountable for all of their heinous crimes and injustices inflicted on Palestinians."

Our third winner for the prose/poetry category is Sara Ardenne's "Soldiers". The artist detailed the following to us: 

"With people in power pulling the strings and far too many people willing to sweep a blind eye, expression and calling out such actions are definitively important. "Soldiers" describes the mutation of war - where modern conflict is dictated behind screens and anything can happen at the whims of those with enough power. Soldiers also talks about the oppression of voice, hinting at the feeling of being pawns in a far larger game; a truth that is rather unsettling."

Our second winner for the art/photography category is Cyber//Chiffon's "... and this stays between us, right?" The artist detailed the following to us: 

"... and this stays between us, right? is the first project from two person artist collective cyber//chiffon featuring two touch reactive sculptural objects titled I CAN’T TAKE OFF MY BEAUTIFUL FACE (Taylor Elise Colimore) and maybe I should be biting (Noren Gelberg-Hagmaier) both conceptually and literally in conversation together. Through the use of different coding techniques, the objects talk back and forth between each other and also to the viewers if triggered by their touch. Conceptually, these objects were created from experiences we have had where we felt disrespected, taken advantage of, or judged on the basis of our identities and self-expression. The installation of this exhibition creates a space for our objects, representative of ourselves, to participate in conversations without being interrupted by unsolicited comments. However, due to the nature of an exhibition, viewers are invited to enter the gallery and further to even interact with the objects thus interrupting this conversation. The illuminated objects, when touched, go dark and make a jarring sound to startle the viewer in an effort to advocate for the object’s own autonomy."

Our third winner for the art/photography category is Nysa Chaturvedi's "Smile. You're being heard." The artist detailed the following to us: 

""Smile. You’re Being Heard” fits Glass Tongue by confronting the fragile, performative nature of speech today. It explores how voices — especially feminine ones — are only accepted when they’re beautiful, palatable, or performative. The mouth, covered in kisses and eyes, becomes a site of surveillance and expectation. Blending political surrealism, visual censorship, and identity performance, the piece reflects the cost of speaking up versus staying silent — especially in a world where justice is only heard if it looks good."