painting, Lettre au pays
Report a Mistake- Date Made 1993
- Event --
- Affiliation --
- Artist / Maker / Manufacturer Tahir, Mr. Shwan
- Object Number 94-455
- Place of Origin Continent - North America, Country - Canada, Province / Territory - Ontario, Municipality - Weston
- Category Communication artifacts
- Sub-category Art
- Department Folklore
- Museum CMH
- Earliest 1993/01/01
- Latest 1993/12/31
- Medium paint, acrylic
- Support paper
- Materials Not applicable
- Measurements Height 27.2 cm, Width 22.7 cm
- Caption "Lettre au pays" (Letter home), painting, by Tahir Shwan, Ontario, 1993
- Additional Information This painting was inspired by, and is intended to be representative of, the millions of letters that immigrants send to their families back in the homeland; in particular, immigrants who have come from countries where freedom of expression is suppressed. It is a written instrument in what is primarily an oral culture. As such, it is made up of formulaic expressions (such as customary phrases of salutation and closing, and the conventional statements dutifully made when writing to family), which make it little more than a hollow shell - what the letter leaves unsaid reveals more than what is written.