From the cave paintings of Lascaux to the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, from the Mo'ai of Rapa Nui to the totem poles of North America, and from the Giza pyramids to the colossal Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan, humans have long used unspoken communication that crosses the barriers of language and culture.

From our ancestors' visual acumen to the verbose musings of their descendants, a long journey has transpired. We have only found different portals from which to view, realized our "view is surely restricted" ("Woman Who Fell from the Sky"), or "simply removed more clutter from...