in collaboration with Samantha Sweeting
"2 Nights with 2 Gyrlz"; ]performance s p a c e [; Hackney Wick, London. 2011
A performance installation diptych.
Night 1: Performance.
The audience is invited to think of a childhood experience they have never told anyone. They are then asked to tell it to their neighbour, who passes along what they hear - in a game of Chinese Whispers - until the story reaches Samantha. Samantha murmurs what she hears into a hearing trumpet held against my ear. I breathe on the glass and transcribe what I hear in the condensation. The audience catches glimpses of their secrets spelled out by my fingers. A few moments later, the words evaporate.
Night 2: Sound sculpture.
The hearing trumpet is attached to a wall. Putting your ear to the mouthpiece, you hear the stories Samantha had whispered to me the previous night.
photos by: Marco Berardi and Jade Lucy Rainbow Boaler
"... I used to read my sister’s diary and cry over the bits about her sexual explorations with her boyfriend. She would find me curled up sobbing, and would try to comfort me. I never told her why I was crying. I was so afraid of losing her..."
"... I stole from my grandmother’s purse. Everyone thought she was going senile because she kept declaring that she was missing cash..."
The hearing trumpet installed.
in collaboration with Samantha Sweeting
"Leonora Carrington / Lucy Skaer"; Leeds College of Art; Leeds, UK. 2016
The audience is invited to think of a childhood experience they have never told anyone. They are then asked to tell it to their neighbour, who passes along what they hear - in a game of Chinese Whispers - until the story reaches Samantha.
Samantha murmurs what she hears into a hearing trumpet held against my ear. I breathe on the glass and transcribe what I hear in the condensation.
The audience catches glimpses of their secrets spelled out by my fingers. A few moments later, the words evaporate.
photos by: Catriona McAra and Ian Hinchliffe