After World War II, Alfred Korzybski asked himself the question:

"How could the horrors of that war have happened, with human beings generally being smart and individually empathic?"

His answer was the field of General Semantics. One of the processes the field pointed to was the "is" of identity in human language.

The "is" of identity can be stated mathematically as:

y = x

a person = x

the person in front of me = a jew (or gay, or disabled, etc.)

In this way a person can identify themselves, or be identified as a category.

Linguistically the category takes the form of a noun, or "a thing"-- rather than what we as humans all are: a continuing and evolving process.

The “is” of identity is the most basic the structure of objectification, and by extension, dehumanization.

Today there are many human rights movements across the world pushing one agenda or another forward: gay rights, people with disabilities, or people with mental illness.

Perhaps it's necessary for these movements to progress that people identify as one thing or another.

On the other hand as soon as one backs a given movement, one has already pigeoned-holed his or herself or this group of people as a object at the most basic linguistic linguistic level.

I can't help but feel that this filters up through the dialogue.

You're either for or against "the other," or you are "the other", but it's not "we" or "us," all, just as people.

The Sigils series was inspired by Korzybski's analysis and Austin Osman Spare's use of the "sigil" in his version of mysticism.

A Sigil is a magical symbol. Aleister Crowley's definition of “magick” serves the discussion:

"The Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will."

The sigils projected on the models in the work serve as abstract concepts which are altered by the geography of the form, but also change our perception of the portraits and figures within the image.

For me, they also pay tribute Freud's notion of "projection."

The series is in part inspired by my fascination with how our thoughts, ideas, and assumptions alter our perceptions of reality.

-- Jay Gidwitz