How Art Taught Me to Read

Language is an integral part of every leap in consciousness. As infants, we come more fully into the world as we discover words. As children, language drives our socialization as we learn that words can help others as well as hurt them. In our adolescence, we use language to develop abstract thinking and self-expression. When we reach adulthood, we confront existential questions, explore the nuances of identity, and find purpose by relying on concepts formed through language.

Language is what makes up our world. But it was through studying images — not words — that I learned the depth of this truth.

In this essay, published in Common Good Magazine (Issue 23, print and online), I reflect on how my art education deepened my reading of Scripture.

Lawrence Weiner

Bits & Pieces Put Together to Present a Semblance of a Whole

1991