Spasies deur Taal

Exploring The Spatial Implications of Language

Dewald Jones

MArch 2022

Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Dr. Finzi Saidi
Unit Leader: Mathebe Aphane
Unit Tutor: Bonolo Masango
Unit Tutor: Nomalanga Mahlangu

UNIT 15X
Landscapes of Memory

Language is a powerful tool which influences access to spaces. The language you speak either grants you access or denies you access to spaces. This project looks to reveal in a physical way the experiences of different people from different languages and backgrounds.

The project aims to investigate the Afrikaans language and the spatial implications associated with it. It investigates and unmasks language and the power language has in creating, controlling and influencing how spaces are experienced. The Afrikaans language is used as a gateway into this investigation. Language becomes a tool in order to investigate memorial landscapes and Virtual Reality will be the tool that is used to possibly communicate this investigation.

By using Virtual Reality as a means to communicate the investigation I have the freedom to illustrate aspects of which would be impossible to see in the real world. This is how language influences spaces, which can’t really be seen in the physical world, but by giving a virtual experience it gives me freedom to illustrate these nuances.

Keywords:
Unmasking, Language, Afrikaans, Virtual Reality