SARAH RICE

25 March - 03 April 2022 @ CCAS MANUKA

Text/ure – the drawings is the final stage of a multi-disciplinary project Sarah Rice has been working on over the past two years. Rice was granted ArtsACT funding to commission six composers to write six songs (sung by Canberra choir Oriana Chorale) based on her poetry, and then to create a series of drawings in response to their compositions. This feast for eye and ear took place in May 2021, with six timed powerpoints projecting over 250 images in total on the large screen behind the choir as it sang the music that had inspired the drawings. The performance was given rave reviews in City News and Limelight Magazine. In total, approximately 350 people came to see Text/ure – the Performance, and many have asked how they can see the art in person.

The key ideas behind Text/ure are: ekphrasis (how one art-form responds to another, eg drawing in response to music); synesthesia (how one sense interprets another, eg sound as colour/shape/texture); and finally, interpretation, (how can music be interpreted through drawing, and different interpretations of one stimulus material).  

To make the drawings, Rice used a range of different colour palettes, subject matter, surfaces, textures, media etc to highlight the differences between each of the songs – everything from pastels, to chalk and paint-pens. The images are made up of layered drawings on translucent surfaces (such as glass, acetate, cellophane etc), or reflective surfaces (such as foil card, printing plates, metallic surfaces), often bent to mirror themselves, or other drawings, all photographed under different lighting conditions.

The resulting photographic images are then printed on a range of different materials and hung, with six images reflecting each of the six pieces of music, making a total of 36 prints. There will also be a projection running of each of the 6 timed powerpoints from the performance (250 images in total), with the accompanying audio sound-track played during the exhibition.

[1] For more information see the promotional interview with Helen Musa in City News: https://citynews.com.au/2021/singing-sarah-puts-the-visual-power-into-poetry/

[2] See the review in City News: https://citynews.com.au/2021/fine-performances-in-a-feast-for-ear-and-eye/