Crawford Art Gallery is now closed for redevelopment.

Lihuel González 'Dos Personas', film still © the Artist

Dos Personas, brings together two migrants in Argentina. Having not previously met, two people from different cultures attempt to communicate using their own individual languages of French and Japanese. Using physical gestures, repetition and patience, the two protagonists slowly, but surely begin to understand each other, creating a new code to make themselves understood.

As Liheul González has commented: ‘Every time I have to present my work in a foreign country or simply meet someone who does not speak my native language, I find myself with the difficulty of not being able to express myself fluently.

When I try to let someone know about my experiences, my feelings, and even my thoughts, in a foreign language, the meaning of it all loses its true force. As a friend told me a while ago, “you become a worse version of yourself.” I've had that feeling for years without being able to overcome it.

With this film project, I try once more to grow closer to all those moments where language and cultural barriers triumph in their attempt to be understood and the words don't end up in a language shipwreck.

I discovered that video and photography truly enabled me to create images that could in turn help me visualise, understand and express things that I could not in other ways. Video is a medium that allows me to re-experience things I go through every day in a truly transformative way.’