WOW Women, Art & Politics Residency

This soundscape was built as the two week residency progressed, in collaboration with all of the artists and in a very spontaneous and organic way. Voices recorded in moments snatched between conversation, visual art making, and performance rehearsal. Songs and poems recorded late at night in The White House in Footscray, and in between noisy rain showers in The Line warehouse.

Together every day, and night, conversations abounded and rebounded. This soundscape is absolutely a work of distilling the spirit of that coming together, the moments of both confusion and clarity that came with deep conversation about women, equality, diversity, intersectionality, sustainability, and the urgency and compassion of activism. The sounds of the waves and the winds forming the aural landscape throughout are predominantly created from the women's voices, breathing, laughing, whispering, singing. Footsteps on the warehouse's old metal floors, Heather's charcoal pencil, Lena and Fitri's scissors and pens. My own poem, lung capacity, was a last-minute addition, recorded at 3am after sitting with all of these voices for hours, realising that this poem written 10 years ago is still distressingly relevant. 

This soundscape is the sound of women from very different countries, languages, cultures and perspectives, learning from each other. It is my gift to them, also, made with a deep love and gratitude for their generous spirits.

During the two weeks we created a collaborative performance of theatre, dance, poetry and sound (see video below) which was performed on Friday 24th March at the Wow cafe, FCAC lawn. The full 30 minute soundscape was then played continually on loop at the wall featuring Fitri DK and Anisa Shabrina Yunus' paste up artwork (perempuan merdeka) throughout the weekend of the festival, 24th/25th March 2017.