Units of Sound II, 2021, 44 Cyanotypes on Jesmonite, speaker, rubber membrane, mirror, wooden frame, Variable Dimensions.
For this work, one cyanotype of each phoneme in the English language was taken and presented alongside the machine that created them. Phonemes, the units of sound that comprise a language, are at the boundary between what we discern as a sound or as a word. Between something which has meaning and something which doesn’t.
Whilst the cyanotypes appear to be purely abstract forms, the projection of the laser from the machine, undulating in time as a soundscape emits from its speaker, makes apparent that these seemingly unrecognisable shapes have their basis in something we hear and use everyday.
Video: https://petervance.art/units-of-sound-ii-vid
Detail shots of Installation: https://petervance.art/units-of-sound-ii-pics-1