TRANSMISSION ART ARCHIVE

See How She Sorrows

1998
Christine Baczewska
See How She Sorrows is "a colloquial operetta, drawing on events from my own life and on my acquisition of a Haitian Loa flag, a piece of religious folk art made of beads and sequins, visually representing a Loa (god/spirit). The Loa of my flag is Erzulie Danthor who, as I understand it, is the goddess of love in her dark incarnation. Though I relate to the flag as a piece of art, I cannot help but be affected by its visual imagery of hearts, knives and blood and by the almost palpable energy that emanates from the object. As well, the piece uses imagery relating to the Catholic female icon, the Virgin Mary, to address the larger issues of the personal nature of religious expression, succor in emotional turmoil and the reclamation of traditional elements in an idiolectic spirituality." - the artist

Musically the composition explores the relationship between multiple vocal lines which build upon each other to form a textual audio landscape punctuated by loosely narrative lead voices. A stunning and deeply moving piece of music ritual.