Soundings: Voice (h)as Object
June 2023
Carmen Menza, inside ” Vortex”, photo by Colette Copeland
An interview with artist Colette Copeland, multi-media visual artist, arts educator, social activist and cultural critic/writer
Randee Silv: Can you tell us about your project, Soundings, and what inspired you to set it in motion?
Colette Copeland: Last summer, I was part of the collaborative, experimental sound art residency Field Kitchen Academy in Perleberg, Germany (outside of Berlin), studying with sonic thinker and composer Sam Auinger. I created some works with the female-identifying and non-binary residents, recording their voices individually in an 1830s old rusted barn silo. The inside of the silo had a swastika chalked on wall from vandals. We made a new drawing transforming the hate symbol into something positive and used our voices to embody the space into one that was more inclusive. Our residency theme was the Voice as Object, the Object (h)as Voice and each participant repeated the phrase in their 1st language. We had 6 languages represented. The sound work is about amplifying voices that have historically been silenced. I edited two versions of the work–one whispering and one with a variety of intonations and vocalizing techniques.
RS: Voice (h)as Object. Totally thought-provoking. Sounds like a very dynamic and powerful experience. To be involved with creating a platform for a diversity of voices to be recognized and not ignored, so essential, especially now, more than ever. What ideas started to gel for you?
CC: That experience transformed my artistic practice in thinking about how sound, specifically the human voice can alter and transform an architectural space both physically and emotionally. I live in Texas, where there is history of silencing voices. Last year with the loss of women’s rights due to the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, as well as the proposed legislation in Texas and other southern states restricting LGBTQ+ rights, I felt it was important for our voices to be heard. Within that context, Soundings was born.
RS: In listening to the recordings, I can hear how you explored multiple sound variations having each person repeat a chosen phrase over and over. You can really feel this immediacy, this urgency, this intensity of their words. Did you explore different locations before settling on Echo Bridge in San Antonio?
CC: I originally thought about recording in the historic Hot Wells ruins in San Antonio. The well was discovered on land owned by the Southeastern Insane Asylum. It was later purchased and became a bathhouse and hotel. I thought it would be conceptually interesting to record on a site that had imprisoned women suffering from “hysteria”. The caretaker suggested underneath the Echo Bridge instead, due to easy access and acoustic possibilities.
During the first 2 weeks of January 2023, I had a micro art and art-writing residency in San Antonio at Artpace. I recorded 8 artists/creatives (female-identifying and queer voices) sounding a repeated phrase. I asked them to choose a phrase that they wanted to amplify into the universe, as a reclamation of power or mantra of sorts. The participants experimented with different types of sounding–whispering, yelling, singing, varying intonation, cadence and emotions. Phrases include: “I do not need to take your power to make mine.” “I will no longer make myself small to make you feel comfortable.” “The boy is a bit too brown, but he is still pretty.” “I am here.” “I am safe. I am love.” “My masc/mask is that I am fem.” “You will not shame me into silence.”
RS: I saw that you also recorded inside Richard Serra’s “Vortex” sculpture. What drew you to explore that environment?
This spring I continued to record in Dallas and Ft. Worth including inside the Richard Serra sculpture outside the Ft. Worth Modern Art Museum. The acoustics are incredible, and Serra represents (to me) white art world patriarchy. I have recorded 9 voices so far and will continue to record throughout the summer. Some sample phrases include: “I refuse to be anyone else’s expectations.” “When you tell me I’m selfish, don’t you mean I should be self-less.” “Home is with you.” “I am not yours.” “Like a weed, I grow where I am planted.” “I am used to the discomfort, so much, so deep, I can’t tell if I am uncomfortable.” “I will not fear the truth, the truth has set me free.”
Sara Fox & Colette Copeland, Echo Bridge, photo by Juan Carlos Escobedo
RS: What kind of feedback have you had from working with these artists?
CC: It has been a powerful and transformative experience. I think it helps that I know all of the artists who have participated thus far, so we already had a level of mutual trust. I consider myself a witness who is there to listen and provide minimal direction in the recording process. I feel very humbled and honored that these artists shared their vulnerabilities with me. The recording sessions were empowering and cathartic for both me and the participants. Collaboration is integral to my artistic practice and growth as an artist. My collaborators and I hope that audiences will also share in that experience, that the recordings will offer an opportunity for reflection and discussion.
I also want to recognize the brilliant composer and sound editor Mark Menza who is collaborating with me on the editing. His knowledge and experience in music has added so much to the project. I think of each person’s layered voice as a mini symphony.
RS: Are you planning to record in other locations besides the Serra sculpture? And will Soundings be presented in any galleries or alternative spaces?
CC: I hope to record at Co-Lab Projects in Austin later this summer. It’s an artist-run nonprofit gallery. They have a cool room that is a giant speaker, so acoustically–a very interesting space. I’m very excited about the attention the project is receiving. The work will premiere at Houston Sculpture Month October 7- December 2, 2023 in the Silos at the Sawyer Yards. The exhibition title/theme Sleep of Reason–The Fragmented Figure conceptually fits well with my “disembodied voices” in Soundings. I’m also interested in how sound can function as sculpture within an architectural space. I will have 4 speakers installed with the voices looped, so sounds will reverberate throughout the space.
In November 2023, the work will be on exhibit at ICOSA, an artist-run nonprofit space in Austin as part of its Soundscape series. The work will be played on speakers outdoors, during evening hours. Visitors are invited free of charge to sit and practice deep listening.
I haven’t received confirmation yet, but also hope to show this in Ft. Worth in early 2025. I also have proposals out for San Antonio and Dallas.
RS: You were just rewarded a Fulbright Scholar’s Award to go to India. Congrats! Very exciting. What will be the focus of your work while there?
CC: Thank you. I will be researching and writing about female artists who are working with non-traditional materials and processes. I plan to visit 6 cities. The grant is a flex grant, which means I can divide my time into 3 trips, spending 4-6 weeks each trip. I am indebted to my dear friend Suvendu Chatterjee, a curator and photographer based in Kolkata, India. He curated my work in two exhibitions–a solo exhibition at Kolkata Museum in 2005 and again as part of the Kolkata International Photography Festival in 2019. When he approached me about having another exhibit in India for 2023, we had the idea of applying for a Fulbright. He is very well connected with artists and art institutions around the country, so has graciously agreed to facilitate connections for me, working tirelessly behind the scenes and planning my itinerary.
We are still working out details, but I hope that NID (National Institute of Design) will be my host organization. They have offered to host an exhibition of my work and I plan to do some teaching there.
I also plan to continue with the Soundings project, collaborating with the female artists who I meet.
Juan Carlos Escobedo & Colette Copeland, Echo Bridge, photo by Sarah Fox
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