News
Everything Will Be Alright
4-channel sound installation
Newcastle University Arches
16th-22nd January 2023
A multi layered four channel audio installation in which the voices of my mother and I relay phrases of reassurance, in varying tones and volumes, from multiple directions.
Duration: 5 minutes
The piece will be played on the hour, with the first iteration at 6am and the final iteration at 10pm.
I first created this piece in 2016, following the news that my Mum had been diagnosed with brain cancer. At the time I was studying a Fine Art Masters at Newcastle University. Each morning I would walk to the studio and there’d be a soundtrack of internal and external voices going through my head. Some of these voices were comforting, reminding me of how my Mum and I would try to reassure and encourage each other, but other sayings seemed ridiculous and inconsiderate; how a stranger could tell me that “Everything will be alright” even when they knew very little about my Mum’s circumstances? I became interested in the way that the same words can be interpreted completely differently depending on how they are spoken. Initially I recorded my own voice, and then asked my Mum if I could record her voice too. The recording session was a really emotional experience, and as I edited all the footage we didn’t know whether my Mum would be alive to hear it exhibited as a sound installation. I am delighted to say that she was able to attend the exhibition opening and is still very much alive and fighting like a trooper - a truly inspirational woman.
I am fascinated by the power of the context (both physical situation and temporal) to influence the interpretation of the work. I have since exhibited the artwork in a number of different contexts.
For more information please visit
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/creativearts/research/current-projects/creativearts-currentprojects-archessound/
Newcastle University Arches
16th-22nd January 2023
A multi layered four channel audio installation in which the voices of my mother and I relay phrases of reassurance, in varying tones and volumes, from multiple directions.
Duration: 5 minutes
The piece will be played on the hour, with the first iteration at 6am and the final iteration at 10pm.
I first created this piece in 2016, following the news that my Mum had been diagnosed with brain cancer. At the time I was studying a Fine Art Masters at Newcastle University. Each morning I would walk to the studio and there’d be a soundtrack of internal and external voices going through my head. Some of these voices were comforting, reminding me of how my Mum and I would try to reassure and encourage each other, but other sayings seemed ridiculous and inconsiderate; how a stranger could tell me that “Everything will be alright” even when they knew very little about my Mum’s circumstances? I became interested in the way that the same words can be interpreted completely differently depending on how they are spoken. Initially I recorded my own voice, and then asked my Mum if I could record her voice too. The recording session was a really emotional experience, and as I edited all the footage we didn’t know whether my Mum would be alive to hear it exhibited as a sound installation. I am delighted to say that she was able to attend the exhibition opening and is still very much alive and fighting like a trooper - a truly inspirational woman.
I am fascinated by the power of the context (both physical situation and temporal) to influence the interpretation of the work. I have since exhibited the artwork in a number of different contexts.
For more information please visit
https://www.ncl.ac.uk/creativearts/research/current-projects/creativearts-currentprojects-archessound/
