Edited by spouses Seth and Chelsea McKelvey, S/WORD
(variably
pronounced “sword,” “s word,” “sslashword,” etc.) arises from the
belief of a singular truth in Word: that it is living and powerful,
sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul
and spirit.
Crossing out (or, more accurately, crossing over) is not an erasure or
elimination; it does not render the word illegible. Rather, it invites
you to read, and subsequently asks you to consider what you have read
as flawed. It indicates a change in one’s mind, showing not just the
before and after, but the change itself, the space in between. It shows
process and progress, insofar as regress is necessary to progress.
S/WORD
seeks impossible expressions of beauty and power in language.
Only in light of such failed attempts is it a worthwhile endeavour to
cut and pierce, to show the malleable frailty of words. It is the firm
belief in seeing the unseen, the contradictory capabilities and
limitations of language.
S/WORD
is concerned with the dissolution of language, its breaking
point, so that we may know the Word through apophasis.
S/WORD
exists as a record of these fragments, these shards, these
partial reflections. It is a work in progress, a training ground for a
community of artists.