Using permanent ink, I wrote “Mother tongue” on my tongue and attempted to erase it by scraping it against a knife blade.

« I vomited my past.
Ink black with the scent of love.
Everything came out. The curettage was successful.
The bleeding has stopped.
The newborn does not cry.
Silence. »

Mother Tongue live performance, Residence Unlimited, NYC, 2023

I wrote  8 phrases on 8 different knives in Bulgarian, my mother tongue. For six hours,  I cleaned all the knives by licking them  with my « mother » tongue until the written phase disappeared. I « shaved » and « cleaned » my tongue us well.  I « sharpen’d » it like a pencil. And spit out the ink. 

Mother tongue could « care » but could also hurt. It could erase and provoke pain. It could defend and attack you. Mother’s love is the first battle in our life and we confront  it from the moment of our conception.