For years, Wosene Kosrof has explored the visual potential of writing, especially in his native Ethiopian language, Amharic. In works such as I Love the Way You Sing (pictured), calligraphy is reworked to reflect both his Ethiopian heritage and his expatriate experience in America. 'As I reshape Amharic characters as colors on canvas, it's almost like I'm putting them under a microscope to discover what stories they tell, what secrets they have. They come alive at the tip of my brush, and we speak to each other in a language of elegant and rhythmic lines, circles and curves. They celebrate rituals: birth, life and death. These symbols bring my culture to me and at the same time I recreate my culture with the symbols, producing a unique international visual language." — D. Eric Bookhardt

Through September

Stella Jones Gallery, 201 St. Charles Ave., Suite 132, 568-9050; www.stellajones.com