Five hands, five letters, five gestures, five figures, five flights.
An angel falls behind, a index finger stretches back. The collection of singulars forms a whole, forms a word, gathers a flight of angels. The energy of Jila Peacock’s hands spelling the word GRACE in British Sign Language (BSL) gives focus to the dynamic movement and beauty of the language. Each letter creates a bold image itself, while the series gives us a word and a completed understanding of the gestures. Similarly, the serial image of the angels flying from left to right with their mouths open and singing leaves us to imagine the sounds spilling out and to immerse ourselves in a language we might not know or be able to hear.
Can you spell out GRACE in BSL yourself?
How does it feel in your body, in your hands?
Can you spell it slowly or quickly and how does it change the feeling or meaning of the word of action; is it gentle…curious…urgent?
Look at the people around you? How are they looking, sitting or standing in relation to one another? Is this similar or different to the angels in the image? If there’s a window nearby – can you see any birds flying together in formation, in a murmur or a flock? Are they making arrows and lines like the flights of angels? Where might they be heading? Count them – one, two, three, four, five….
Jila Peacock was born in Iran in 1948. She studied medicine before she completed a Painting degree at St Martin’s School of Art in 1984. Between 1990 – 2004, she was a part time lecturer at Glasgow School of Art and a Visiting Scholar at New Hall, Cambridge. While painting and printing are her main mediums, she has also worked in animation and collaborated with composers. Her booked Ten Poems from Hafez won the British Book Design Award. These illustrations then formed part of the film Tongue of the Hidden which was broadcast on Channel 4 in 2007, won the Tehran short film festival and was short-listed for a Scottish BAFTA in 2008. Peacock now lives in Suffolk and works between there and Glasgow.