robin faymonville
I write Believe in Gift as a poem in English. I begin with a simple situation: someone receives a blank letter—a gift without content. I frame it as a question of transmission and loss. I translate the poem into French. I send it to a professional sign language translator. I plan to reproduce the translated gestures myself. When I receive the video, I confront the complexity of sign language. I recognize the limits of imitation. I abandon the initial protocol. I use this failure as a starting point. I invent a private sign system. I shift from language to choreography. I let gesture operate as an approximate, unstable form of communication.