Last December I was in Boston for a very short visit, and happened upon two adjacent exhibitions and Boston’s MFA that intrigued me. Cecelia Vicuña: Disappeared Quipu and Sheila Hicks Bamian and Kneeling Stones.

In the first room, Sheila Vicuña had created a room-size installation of knotted fiber, and projected images of the marks those knots would leave after dyeing. The quipu that inspired this monumental tribute to a forgotten language, the whispered voices surrounding you, and the amplified and circling patterns all contribute to an ever-changing textual landscape.

Then, in the next room was Sheila Hicks similarly monumental wrapped objects that hearkened to another lost language. Or maybe a story that we need to listen more carefully to hear…