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Simon Glass, work from the series "Cratylus"
This work is from the series "Cratylus", a suite of 8 images that takes its title from Plato's dialogue on language written in 360 B.C.E. The dialogue was between Socrates, Hermogenes and Cratylus.
Hermogenes, easily influenced and uncertain, argues with Socrates that language is based on convention. Cratylus, more certain, and fixed in his ways, insists that language is natural. The images of fossils, indexes of prehistoric (and prelinguistic) life forms, are juxtaposed with textual references to language - biblical, mystical, historical and contemporary.
Simon Glass graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1983 and completed an MA in Media and Communications at the European Graduate School in 2005. He was a founding member of Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography. His recent work combines photographic imagery with text to examine the possibilities and impossibilities of language. His work has been exhibited widely in group and solo exhibitions throughout Canada and internationally. He is a recipient of numerous awards from the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Simon teaches photography at the Ontario College of Art and Design.
The dialogue can be viewed at:
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/cratylus.html
