Word Bank of Lost Dialects

2019
Commissioned installation at The Word - The National Centre for the Written Word
With Robert Good

The Word Bank of Lost Dialects celebrates over 2,400 favourite dialect words that were donated by members of the public during The Word’s original Lost Dialects exhibition in 2016. The words have been digitised, analysed and contextualised to create an immersive and interactive exhibition and A-Z catalogue of dialect words. 

Words were cut from panels that cover the back wall of the exhibition space. The lettering was modified to work successfully in the size and material so that the wall of words act an an inscription. This gives the words solidity and invites visitors to explore them in a tactile way by touch and by making rubbings of their favourite words.

"Word Bank of Lost Dialects has been a fantastic exhibition. It engages audiences across all ages and asks them to think about and interact with the thousands of donated dialect words collected prior to the project. The Word has received great feedback from visitors and the exhibition has sparked an interest in many people. Since opening, it has received hundreds of ‘votes’ from visitors who are asked to choose their favourite dialect words." – Gemma Grist, Programming and Marketing Officer for The Word, National Centre for the Written Word

With special thanks to Tony Short at Rlab in Reading for material testing, Sam Stead for fabrication, Sheridan Design for installation.
Laser cutting by Cut-Tec, and graphics by DigitalPlus.