Ann Hamilton created this video as one component of her 1993 installation, aleph, presented at the List Visual Arts Center. "Aleph" is the first character of the Hebrew alphabet and references written language as well as the origins of language.

In this video, the artist's mouth is filled with stones that impede her speech while producing non-specific, perhaps "pre-linguistic" sounds of their own. Untitled (mouth/stones) also alludes to the ancient Greek orator Demosthenes, who overcame a speech impediment by practicing with pebbles in his mouth.