ARTIST STATEMENT - why do I make what I make? 

I am interested in the body and the mind as a moving and changing landscape, in this work I am specifically dealing with the ear and how the affects our perception of space. I often deal with anxiety regarding ambiguous social situations and in the questions and answers that we often use to try and make connection. Part of this is my own curiosity and anxiety surrounding social expectations, specifically communication. Those expectations are built up against the truth that growth in communication is built through trial and error. This is a tension that I have explored in my sculpture and drawings, and now I am exploring how this tension plays out in sound, specifically through a narrative of collected audio.

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I have always had a sensitivity to sound. As I walk down the street, I tune into the different conversations I pass by, getting tiny sound bytes of someone else’s story. My sound pieces act in a similar way. They are working to piece together events of a day or a weekend, piecing together seemingly disparate details. On a macro scale, they aim to act as an anthropological artifact of human communication and how I place myself within my environment, and in that way they will ground the listener in that space. 

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I wrote a poem while I was in Ireland last semester. Being abroad forced me to face how wrapped up I was in my insecurities, but it was also a growing experience as I was able to build confidence in voicing my strengths. The poem describes my regrets over not speaking up for myself sooner. Incorporating sound art into my practice has not only been a new mode of experimentation, but also an exercise in letting my voice be exposed.

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There are moments when I feel

the weight of my voice,

sound reverberating through

unused chords, and I wonder

how I ever stayed silent.

 

There is too much to say

to stay quiet.

I forgot how my voice

could sound off another,

sometimes ringing sour.

 

but sometimes triumphant.