A decade ago, Merhi defined a system he called Perfect Language. It is a sensorial metalanguage that can be applied to any language, making it automatically understandable to anyone. The artist developed this universal language depicting words, mostly nouns, using the material they refer by definition. One must only know that "what you see is what it says."

In 2014, Merhi traveled to Guatemala and spent one year working on a project named “Perfect Language: Maya”. He researched and reproduced a set of logograms (Maya glyphs) employing a wide range of materials that for centuries have been part of the Maya culture: earth, cocoa, wood, jade, dyes, beans, etc. Then, he investigated which were the Maya symbols that designate each element.

The selection process of logograms was as rigorous as possible, drawing on the expertise of archaeologists, epigraphist, and academic material. The artist also had the collaboration of botanists, historians, farmers, veterinarians, chefs, carvers, artisans, and experts in various fields.



To produce Perfect Language (Wood: Te #2), the artist carved a piece of wood with one of the three logograms that correspond to wood. Merhi had the support of an archaeologist-epigraphist and a local master carpenter.