A Body I Touched

Sound Installation | Wood, Sound, Bone Conduction Transducers, Photopolymer Gravure Prints

Exhibited @ Kala Art Gallery, and Berkeley Art Center, 2023-24, Berkeley CA | Technical consultation: Stephen Cooke

A Body I Touched is a sound installation developed from recordings made during the exhumation of members of my family. Geophones capture subtle ground vibrations from the burial site, while field recordings preserve the sounds of rituals performed for the deceased. Bone-conduction transducers transmit these recordings through handcrafted wooden forms, transforming the sculptures into resonant bodies through which sound can be physically felt as well as heard. Alongside the photopolymer gravure prints, the installation forms a tactile archive in which sound, image, material, and memory move across bodies and generations. The work reflects on intimacy, cultural inheritance, and a spiritual landscape that is gradually disappearing.

Photo by James Ken Butler