As They Say

As They Say is a photographic series that examines the instability of language and its role in shaping contemporary communication. The work explores how formulaic expressions, particularly idioms, rely on assumed knowledge while often obscuring meaning. 
As a child, I was dumbfounded by the phrase “you can’t have your cake and eat it too,” which my mother would repeat lightheartedly whenever birthday cake was around, knowing my own misunderstanding of the expression continually baffled me. As an adult, wading through the waters of celebrity idolization, bizarre political discourse, and internet algorithms, my curiosity about this type of jargon persists. I am fascinated by the generalizations of today’s culture: we say things we don’t mean, make plans we have no intentions of keeping, tell people we don’t love that we do. Language shifts rapidly, functioning less like conversation and more like transaction, creating the appearance of sincerity without necessarily sustaining any genuine connection. Thus, dialogue becomes less about honesty and more about performance.
Idioms are figures of speech that do not translate literally. These photographs move between direct interpretation and misrepresentation, revealing the fragility of common phrases often relied upon. Situated in Hawaiʻi, where multiple linguistic and cultural frameworks intersect, the work considers how language circulates through place and time, tracing the gap between what is said, what is meant, and what is ultimately understood.