ABSTRACT
This essay addresses the concept of ventriloquism through the author’s analysis of her own sound/language art practice that is increasingly emerging through the voices of others, both spoken and written, both animal and human. In polyphonic practice there is a dilution of authorship via sharing, co-mingling, blending, merging and collaborating. Thus, instead of the artist projecting her own voice, which is the typical definition of ventriloquism, the term is used relative to the projection of others’ voices via the activities undertaken within the practice. An instance of writing-with, as per Donna Haraway’s concepts of “thinking-with” and “making-with” (sympoesis) where actions are multiple and fused, this essay writes with the many voices that congregate in the process of art making. Likewise, it thinks with those involved, a parallel process to the art practice that travels amongst the many threads that constitute the listening, sounding, voice and voicing involved. Contributing voices are both multiple and multi-species. The essay thus traces a path beside the art-making process, not to support or explain it, but to extend, expand, modify and enhance it, and excerpts of text from these artworks are included: Speaking in Tongues (2019), In a Manner of Speaking (2018), and Ambassadors (2019).
