In autumn 2022, Deaf musicians Jo-Anne Bryan, Pamela Witcher and Theara Yim visited Laura Taler’s solo exhibition, THREE SONGS, at CUAG and met with Taler.
Over the next six months they co-created and then performed an extraordinary work of signed music, which responds to and resonates with Taler’s work and explores themes of loss, oppression, Deaf pride, home and transformation. Their performance was beautifully captured on film by Susannah Heath-Eves.
“own home search-find / chez soi cherché-trouvé” is a Signed Music performance in four movements by Jo-Anne Bryan, Pamela E. Witcher and Theara Yim. The works were produced in conjunction with Resonance 2: Song, Identity and Signed Music, a research and performance project co-produced by Dr. Ellen Waterman, Helmut Kallmann Chair for Music in Canada at Carleton University, and Carleton University Art Gallery.
Each movement is available as a separate short film. Signed Music does not use any sound and these pieces do not feature “lyrics,” so there is no closed captioning.
Jo-Anne Bryan is an Ottawa-based interdisciplinary artist experiencing life through the intersections of being Black, Deaf, Queer and Woman. Her artistry includes American Sign Language (ASL) storytelling and performance. When not performing, she is writing a new play in the Dramaturgical Collaboration program with Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal (PWM).
Jody Cripps is an Assistant Professor of American Sign Language at Clemson University in South Carolina. He conducted groundbreaking ethnomusicological research in Canada on the creative process and production of a Signed Music showcase titled THE BLACK DRUM.
Susannah Heath-Eves (SHE Films) is a documentary filmmaker based in Ottawa, living and working on unceded Algonquin, Anishinaabe territory. Her purpose is to contribute to a more equitable world through films and videos about art, social justice and connection to nature. Her new independent feature documentary, Take It Outside, is coming soon.
Laura Taler is a Romanian-born Canadian artist who works across a range of media including performance, film, sound, sculpture and installation.
Ellen Waterman is Professor and Helmut Kallmann Chair for Music in Canada at Carleton University and Director of the Research Centre for Music, Sound, and Society in Canada.
Pamela E. Witcher an artist, director, interpreter, translator and cultural mediator. Pamela’s artistic expertise includes visual art, videography and Signed Music. Pamela proclaims: “When Deaf communities create information through art and documentation, our existence becomes concrete, known and valued.” Pamela’s Signed Music works have been featured internationally.
Theara Yim is a Cambodian artist who grew up in Montreal and has been Deaf since birth. Alongside his work in education, he has always been fascinated by the arts, particularly the visual arts and poetry related to Quebec sign language (LSQ).
Credits
This project was supported by an Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, a Public Outreach Grant from the Arts Across Canada program of the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Research Centre for Music, Sound, and Society in Canada.
This video was produced with the generous support of Carleton University, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, the Government of Ontario and the Reesa Greenberg Digital Initiatives Fund.
Thank you to Ellen Waterman, Jo-Anne Bryan, Pamela E. Witcher, Theara Yim, Susannah Heath-Eves, Laura Taler and Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre.
