Sound Drawing Drawing Sound
Sound Drawing Drawing Sound is a collaborative project inspired by graphic scores - visual works that invite open-ended musical interpretation. What began as pairing drawings with sound evolved into a fluid exchange between image, music, and environmental audio, with participants and staff shifting roles in response to one another’s ideas. Through experimentation, listening, and consent-based co-creation, this project explores dynamic relationships between still and moving images and sound.
This exhibition features the work of Ross Birdwise in collaboration with Benny, Deidre Snow, Delenn Schoeber, Ethan So, Fariha Farhat, Heather Kingsbury, Jessica McDaniel, Joel Mozgiel, Joanna Ong, Judy Chow, Julianne Chladny, Karolina Wera, Kiersten Halford, Krista Menges, Kristen Cropper, Mark Wolak, Marty Wong, Rachelle D’Souza, Samira D’Souza, Sarah Bautista, Sharon Bessey, Talen Grieg and Tanya Kwan
Text by Ross Birdwise:
Sound Drawing Drawing Sound was initially inspired by graphic scores, which are loosely speaking an alternative format to sheet music, and can be interpreted in a variety of ways, ranging from something rigorous and precise, to things more freely associative, poetic, emotional or whimsical.
When this project started I was approaching people at the day program at Alternative Creations Studio to see if they were interested in making some sort of musical drawing that I or someone else could interpret or pair with music and sound. Sometimes doing both.
As I got deeper into this project and experimented more and got feedback from the person’s served, I co-developed other approaches based on the particular interests and more spontaneous interactions I had with each person and we developed a variety of approaches, some falling more into graphic scores and some less so.
Broadly speaking it became more about finding still and moving image relationships to sound and music. With the possibility of staff switching roles with person’s served. For example rather than a person making a drawing and staff making music in response to it, it might be a person served making a sound or a song and staff making a drawing or video (or both) based on it.
In some cases people also had a clear idea of a sound (not necessarily music) they wanted, such as Deidre Snow requesting staff pair her art with heart beat sounds. We also experimented with going out in the community and recording ambient sounds and then making drawings about it.
Other approaches including looking at the resamblances of an abstract or figurative drawing and a sound, piece of music or physical instrument. ‘Thumb Tracks’ by Ethan So (with Ross Birdwise) is about the resemblance of a drawing of train tracks made by Ethan and thumb piano (Mbira) and uses looped thumb piano and train noise. ‘Skulls Chattering’ by Talen Grieg (with Ross) uses a drawing and video Talen made with wonky, polyrhythmic and bone-like or teeth-like electronic sounds.
In several cases, for various reasons, artists did not want to include their original artworks in this display but were comfortable showing videos of their work. This aspect of consent and negotiating differences and cocreating the works together with person’s served is a key element to how this project continues to unfold (this installation is just the beginning) and its exploratory nature.
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