Conservatory of Dead Languages: Cristina Calderón (b. 1928) and Marie Smith Jones (1918-2008)
Nos. 1-3: Cristina Calderón (b. 1928), the last living speaker of Yaghan, in Puerto Williams, Tierra del Fuego
Nos. 4-22: Marie Smith Jones (1918-2008), the last living speaker of Eyak, in Anchorage, Alaska
Two Wooden Cabinets (painted white)
Large: 31 ½ x 31 ¾ x 7 ½ in
Small: 11 ½ x 16 ¼ x 7 ½ in
Thomas Edison Gem phonograph (serial no. 261954), 9 7/8 x 7 5/8 x 16 in.
Wood pedestal (painted white), 8 ½ x 10 ½ x 36 in.
Two C-print photographs, each 18 x 30 in., framed (wood, painted white)
*Note: additional 8 cylinders are “tests”; not to be included in installationExhibition History
Hypnotherapy, Kent Fine Art LLC, New York, May 4-June 29, 2013, no cat.
This assemblage is part of Pablo Helguera’s ongoing project that explores the rapid disappearance of languages. Scholars estimate that each week the last speaker of an indigenous language dies.
Helguera traveled to Anchorage to record Native Alaskan Marie Smith Jones speaking Eyak. He then drove 20,000 miles south along the Pan-American Highway to the tip of South America, Tierra del Fuego, Chile. There, he documented Cristina Calderón speaking Yaghan. Helguera relayed a message from Jones to Calderón about being a last speaker. Jones said, “Tell her that I know how it feels. We were the chosen ones.” Calderón and her homeland are depicted in the photographs on the left, and Jones’ on the right.
Calderón’s voice is held on three wax phonograph cylinders, and Jones’ stories are recorded on the remaining 22. Although minimal and nondescript, the cylinders act as time capsules.
The recordings have become more poignant since Jones’ death in 2008. The cylinders and phonograph reference the technology pioneered by inventor Thomas Edison, the first to record and play the human voice in 1877.
Purchased by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2014.
