How can the advantages of Sinistral awareness be used in dextral dominated creative industries?

Phoebe Sun
4 min readOct 11, 2021

The etymology of the word Sinistral

Early 15c., “prompted by malice or ill-will, intending to mislead,” from Old French senestre, sinistre “contrary, false; unfavorable; to the left” (14c.), from Latin sinister”left, on the left side” (opposite of dexter), of uncertain origin. Perhaps meaning properly “the slower or weaker hand” [Tucker], but Klein and Buck suggest it’s a euphemism (see left (adj.)) connected with the root of Sanskrit saniyan “more useful, more advantageous.” With contrastive or comparative suffix -ter, as in dexter (see dexterity).

The Latin word was used in augury in the sense of “unlucky, unfavorable” (omens, especially bird flights, seen on the left hand were regarded as portending misfortune), and thus sinister acquired a sense of “harmful, unfavorable, adverse.” This was from Greek influence, reflecting the early Greek practice of facing north when observing omens. In genuine Roman auspices, the augurs faced south and left was favorable. Thus sinister also retained a secondary sense in Latin of “favorable, auspicious, fortunate, lucky.”

Meaning “evil” is from late 15c. Used in heraldry from 1560s to indicate “left, to the left.” Bend(not “bar”) sinister in heraldry indicates illegitimacy and preserves the literal sense of “on or from the left side” (though in heraldry this is from the view of the bearer of the shield, not the observer of it; see bend (n.2)).

In fact, left-handers are sometimes ridiculed because they are different, but in general, people are not biased against left-handers. However, this has not always been the case in history. Some countries have refused to accommodate left-handed people: in some schools, students are prohibited from writing with their left hands; some parents and teachers tie their children’s “left” hands to their backs and force them to use “right” hands. Therefore, in the United Kingdom, the former Secretary of Defense called on everyone to care for left-handed students in schools, and requested that “the guidance of left-handed children be included in mandatory teacher training.”[56]
In the past, it was easy for people to reject dissidents, and this tendency was often further incited by religious myths. Some people once thought that the devil used his left hand while God used his right hand. This understanding is confirmed by numerous paintings. The use of the left hand has also been regarded as a characteristic of witchcraft.

How Sinistral relates to creative industries?

I think this is a very subjective question, but the simple answer to sinistral’s design aesthetics is to make creative industries more diverse. When such a visual presentation becomes an art or design genre, it can bring a new definition. I will exhibit the left-handed intuitive aesthetics at the physical exhibition, and I will use it to experiment with the relationship between left-handed art and creative industries during the exhibition and my career development after graduation.

My easier question is “How to use visual communication to increase public awareness of left-handedness and let right-handedness experience new life’s order.”

I think the media is the most efficient way to improve and influence the public in modern times, so I will present my research visually and design an installation art in the MAAI exhibition. I will continue to connect with the editors of related magazines, such as vice, I-D, kingkong, etc., magazines and online media that focus on visual design, to discuss the reporting and exposure of my visual design in these media.

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Phoebe Sun
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