LINES OF COMMUNICATION
REVIEW BY Jo Clemance, Gallery Coordinator, Babylon Gallery, Cambridgeshire
The Babylon Gallery is pleased to host the first exhibition of Lines of Communication. As a Gallery which focuses on communicating with our broad community via the medium of art, it seems very appropriate that we should now host an exhibition of art which focuses on the mechanics, etiquette and mystery of human communication, from its most intimate form to the more public dynamic of group behaviour.

In conjunction with generous and prestigious health departments around the country, Wright offers us a true and valuable insight into the medical world of speech and the voice. However, it is her personal interpretation of the material that fascinates, explains, shocks, disrupts, values or takes joy in the results of her dedicated research.

For me, the most intimate piece here is the video that shows Wright’s own vocal folds in action. In addition to Wright subjecting herself to the internal camera, she also offers us a small screen and short lead headphones so we cannot help but witness the wonder of the human body up close and personal. The experience of hearing Wright recite a passage of words used professionally by speech therapists is disrupted by her voice seeming to be ‘elsewhere’ in relation to what we see on screen. We hear her voice, recorded outside her body. While we view the fascinating physical source of those words.

The sight of what is within us all gives serious food for thought but it is not the end of Wright’s quest to reveal and contemplate. Wright clearly respects her subject matter and those who chose to contribute to the research, however her work has not been weighed down by that sense of responsibility. The connecting focus for each piece of work is the notion of ‘preciousness’, which Wright highlights in different ways, including the humour to be found in the large projected work. This piece allows us to build layers of personality onto the people who each recite their individual, expressive library of words, one by one. The words expressed are from a standard list used by speech therapists but here Wright invites her participants to interpret those words as they see fit, and in turn we judge their interpretations as similar or at odds to our own versions. Again we have an insight into how, how much and exactly what we communicate, all in a simple spoken word.

In addition to truth, intensity and humour, Wright also engages with the idea of beauty. Printing an image of the mouth in action onto gold leaf underlines both the fragility and value of the voice while allowing beauty to become part and parcel of the work. Developing from this base, Wright then offers her own breath to form glass works which signal beauty and value in a most fragile form.

Finally, Wright’s idea of celebrating the precious nature of the voice in Ely Cathedral couldn’t be better placed. Using the stock material of speech therapists nationwide, and in collaboration with a composer, singer and actionists, Wright produces a work that invites us to contemplate and reflect. The Lady Chapel is renown for it’s amazing acoustics and Wright herself has a substantial track record of performance art that does not threaten the audience. Instead she chooses to guide groups gently to new ideas and possibilities about ourselves and how we usually see and hear the world.

I enjoyed being shown the results of Wright’s explorations; I enjoyed the works of art, which resulted from her personal immersion in the subject. Her intention to acquire medical knowledge and then interpret that experience meaningfully for those of us interested in art was a large undertaking, which I feel, has been executed with skill, talent and integrity.
The Babylon Gallery is pleased to host the first exhibition of Lines of Communication. As a Gallery which focuses on communicating with our broad community via the medium of art, it seems very appropriate that we should now host an exhibition of art which focuses on the mechanics, etiquette and mystery of human communication, from its most intimate form to the more public dynamic of group behaviour. In conjunction with generous and prestigious health departments around the country, Wright offers us a true and valuable insight into the medical world of speech and the voice. However, it is her personal interpretation of the material that fascinates, explains, shocks, disrupts, values or takes joy in the results of her dedicated research. For me, the most intimate piece here is the video that shows Wright’s own vocal folds in action. In addition to Wright subjecting herself to the internal camera, she also offers us a small screen and short lead headphones so we cannot help but witness the wonder of the human body up close and personal. The experience of hearing Wright recite a passage of words used professionally by speech therapists is disrupted by her voice seeming to be ‘elsewhere’ in relation to what we see on screen. We hear her voice, recorded outside her body. While we view the fascinating physical source of those words.