sink (2018)

• Eyeshadow

• Water

• Sanitary pads

• Lipstick  

The seed for this audio-sculptural piece was planted by artist Jo McGonigal in a workshop in September of last year. But what started out as a strange look at the place memory of my secondary school toilets (only a wall away from the music practice rooms), quickly became an exploration of puberty for young women. The lonely noises and sudden joys of the soundscape felt more genuine than any depiction of puberty I’d seen growing up.

It’s only once you put your head down into the bowl that you start to hear the sparse knockings, rings, splashes and drips coming from the £10 Wilko earbuds.

At points, a Year 7 me plays trumpet in a brass band, orchestra, then a samba band cowbell, through the noises of the materials listed above.

Like a real world leitmotif, can these objects have their own voice; could their sounds reveal something more intimate or scary? Or maybe just the clunky echo of your first period.