Thursday, April 23, 2020

Self-Portrait



https://sites.google.com/a/scarletmail.rutgers.edu/acm-final/audio/Sounds%20of%20my%20World%202020.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

Hilijos Exume

Artist Statement

I’ve created my self-portrait in audio format. It is entitled “Sounds of my World 2020.” Having worked with imagery and writing often, I wanted to create something that was purely sound. I consider it an art medium I seldom work with and would want to dabble and explore with more. The idea behind this piece was to create a collection of sound that exposes what I constantly hear and what I am surrounded with. These sounds are a part of my daily life so it is a reflection of myself and what I am as a person.

I start off with how my mornings sound like by using my alarm, brushing my teeth, taking a shower, eating breakfast, putting on clothes, going down the stairs and opening the door. Then I use the sound of being inside a bus to show my most used method of getting around. Pre-coronavirus, I used the bus on a daily basis. Me taking the bus reflects not only my financial status, but also where I live and work (that being in an urban area). Then I have the sounds of a supermarket where I currently work for Amazon. Music is a big hobby of mine, whether it's listening to it or playing it.

Making digital art is also a hobby of mine. I spend a lot of time online, so I figure having typing and clicking sounds were important to add to this project. Of course I couldn't leave behind the sounds of my home life, especially since I've been spending a lot of time at home and since my family are a part of who I am. These comprise the voices of my mother, sister and brother (my father is often at work). At the end the recording is all the sounds playing at once. In other words, the full audio collage of myself as of 2020.

Although some sounds are uniquely my own, others are a part of what most people would recognize and hear. For example, the shower or the sounds of leaving the house are something most of us hear in the mornings. I have added these sounds because they do constitute a part of myself on a broader scale. When we watched The Powers of Ten, I was intrigued by how things were looked at on a large scale and then brought down. I used this concept of large to small in this project. From sounds most people attribute in the mornings to the specific voices of my family and my personal hobbies.

I figure that these sounds are bound to change over time. In the next five years, way past my graduation date, the sounds of my work could be very different, sounds of my home can change or the sounds of my music could evolve. This is why I have chosen to title it “Sounds of my World 2020.” This could become a potential series of sounds collected throughout the years. Therefore, this current piece is like a time capsule that holds the memories of 2020 and more sounds could be added into it. Like the news coverage of this pandemic.

I have taken inspiration from the home videos in the “Private Lives, Public Spaces” exhibit. Those home videos captured the private and intimate moments of people’s lives. Then, they were presented to the open for anyone to see. Much like what I am doing in this project. I am sharing some moments of my life. Also, like the videos at the exhibit, I have built a narrative by setting an alarm at the start, playing various sounds that follow up each other well and ending it with a collage of all the sounds at once. We all know that words and images can tell a narrative, but I would also like to tell a narrative through sound. Music often tells a story and since music plays a significant role in my life, I too wanted to create an appropriate beginning, middle and ending to this piece. I believe you can learn a lot from a person by hearing the sounds of their actions and environments.

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