"The Monument, or, Reclaiming my Mortification", started as a voice note I made on my phone in 2012. I left my school group to explore a domed monument and recorded myself singing an improvised siren song in the massive echoey chamber inside the dome. Although I was initially entranced by the result, I eventually became disillusioned with it (as I did with most things of my adolescence) and would cringe when I remembered playing it for others. The recording had started as a moment of inspiration but ended up on my list of Mortifications.

Years later I was feeling creatively paralyzed and decided to revisit my voice memo. If I could reclaim a recording that made me cringe, I felt, it might give me more courage to take creative risks. So, I harmonized my voice memo with an electric piano, which rekindled the excitement for the recording I'd felt in my teens.

I revisited the piece one last time to tie it visually to the monument where it had started. The video combines 3d animation with a video synthesizer and an old television, to fly around an imaginary landscape of monuments, colours, and abstract geometry. While the abstract visuals don't suggest it explicitly, to me the piece is a reminder that even judgements of our selves and our work are not final.

The Monument, or, Reclaiming my Mortification

Recommended viewing with good sound and the biggest screen available!