Transference

2024

Commissioned by Vanessa Godden for performance installation presented at the 14th 7a*11d International Performance Art Festival, and the Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s RBC Artist Residency.

Transference encompasses Godden’s body traversing between containers of water that gradually shrink as they move between them.

The sounds in this composition blend Godden’s own field recordings from Trinidad and Tobago, collaboratively constructed experimental steel pan recordings, and a choir of sounds collected from Queer and Trans loved ones between Toronto, Texas (US), and Melbourne (Australia). 

The performance serves as a bridge between queer and Caribbean lineages.

Field recordings from Trinidad and Tobago by Vanessa Godden, steel pan recordings by James Knott, Manolo Lugo Mijares, and Vanessa Godden, and voice recordings provided by Andil Gosine, Brigita Gedgaudas, Brigitte Sampogna, Camila Salcedo, Dev Ramsawakh, e Cheung, Emah Fox, Francis Almendarez, Francisco-Fernando Granados, Ivetta Sunyoung kang, James Knott, Jess Pinney, Kate Just, Lan Florence Yee, Kate Welsch, Linxiang Wu, Ouma Amadou, Sarah Mohammed, Thembi Soddell, and Queen Kukoyi.