Csoszó Gabriella

At first glance, we see 12 portraits of people showing signs with their faces or with their hands if we chose to visit this exhibition at the Hungarian House of Photography.

It’s a series of portraits, where all pieces have meanings conveyed by the solitary linguistic sign – the series is made up of fragments. However if reading it by the laws of sign-language used by deaf people, the portraits become readable, adding up to a sentence. Those visitors skilled in sign-language shall have no problems understanding the message, while those without such skills will only be able to decipher its meaning later, using context and references.

This turns the usual ways of communication upside down. Sign-language users become those initiated, and speakers become excluded.

The sentence is a line from a song some of the models having stood for the portraits would never hear.

“There is nothing decided yet”