On August 16, 2025, FQM artist Brandon Sadler presented a special activation at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Staged in the Robinson Atrium of the Stent Family Wing, the performance brought together movement, calligraphy, and live music by violinist Taylor Tookes, offering audiences an immersive artistic encounter.
At the center of the work was Sadler’s self-developed Single Word Character calligraphic practice, in which English letters are arranged into a square format inspired by the Chinese writing system. Each character carries the gesture and rhythm of brushwork, allowing language to unfold as a field of movement and expression. Through this form, Sadler reflected on themes of identity, mythology, and cultural exchange, continuing the trajectory of his ongoing series The Path of Totality.
Image © Courtesy of John Stephens
Image © Courtesy of John Stephens
Over the course of thirty minutes, the performance unfolded as a dialogue between brush and body, gesture and sound. The fluid calligraphic movements, interwoven with Tookes’s violin, created an atmosphere of quiet intensity and resonance. Audiences were invited to move freely through the space before, during, and after the presentation, transforming the activation into a shared experience of presence and participation.
Image © Courtesy of Kïa Tavernier
The event was met with thoughtful engagement from those in attendance, who noted the work’s ability to merge East Asian artistic traditions with contemporary performative language. By allowing writing to expand into motion and sound, Sadler revealed calligraphy not as a fixed practice but as a living, evolving form attuned to the complexities of the present.
