‘The Silence Sings‘ Installation 2022

(Audio) ‘No Man’s Land’ 2022   

Reeds, Driftwood, Clay, Silt, and Water from New Zealand Wetlands.   

‘The Silence Sings’ is an installation of reeds, driftwood, clay, silt, water, and sounds collected from a North Island Wetland. More commonly known as Mangroves, The Ayrlies Wetland located in Whitford New Zealand links to the waters of the Hauraki Gulf.

Hand-molded mud acknowledges the hand of the artist. A singular bespoke driftwood derived from the wetlands, delicately placed reeds, pools of water, and a combination of clay in various stages of water engagement are accumulated. These individual water points, constitute an experience of New Zealand’s Wetland life.

Through a process of installation, the building iterations educated the making in a culminating way. The work has become an adding-on to previous outworkings of wet material from prior installations. The critical involvement of fresh materials holding sea water i.e. the mud and reeds have led to this continued gathering process.

Still, stagnant, and desolate, the wetland takes an attentive eye for life to be found. With each changing tide, the water comes and goes from this still-sacred oasis full of small inquiries of plant and creature life. The life of the wetland sings in the winds that hover over the still waters.

Accompanied sound work, ‘No Man’s Land,’ engages with an additional sense of active listening. Each recording in the sound work is captured in 1-minute durations known as Selah (a time of breath and contemplation). This timestamp is also connotative to the moments of silence we hold for the dead. The title ‘No Man’s Land‘ refers to War, the land that lay between the two opposing fronts. Littered with silent soldiers who lie lifeless, the position of the land was a silence only death could occupy.

We ask, “Is Silence only reserved for the dead?” The desolate wetland would say otherwise.

Britney Saywell