While at the Hugh Lane Gallery, I stumbled upon a piece of work that was very striking. It was composed of words that jutted out from a wall, casting a shadow on the wall behind them. The piece states that, “We suffocate under words, images, and sounds, which have no reason to exist, they come from the void and go towards the void. A truly worthy artist should be asked for nothing but this act of sincerity: to educate himself to silence.” This paragraph immediately reminded me of Beckett’s Text for Nothing, where it seems that voices do occur and exist within a void. The piece at Hugh Lane Gallery was also poignant through its use of the word suffocation, which is the overwhelming feeling I get when reading Beckett’s work. In fact, the dominant voice in Texts for Nothing yearned for the silence that would come once the other voices diminished. The art piece suggests that the other voices may be questions and wonders, which could be solved through learning and education. This would create a cyclical pattern, though, where all voices would continue to wonder and ask questions. After all, the more you learn, the more questions you have. The world does not become simple after study- it grows even more complex. So, perhaps like in Beckett’s work, you can never really escape the voices that barrage you, no matter how hard you may mentally try. The art piece offers an additional thought provoking aspect, by having the words reflect on the surface around them. I think this is symbolic of the effect that your thoughts and the voices within them can have on the world around you.