Six People Present, 2019
Kyle Bates
A six-channel sonic family portrait in memory of Elizabeth “Betty” Bates.
This site-specific installation utilizes field recordings of the artists’ family in order to examine secular viewpoints on themes such as morality, privacy, and the act of memorializing. In a non-denominational chapel setting fear is quelled with sarcasm and laughter, while memories of self are treated as systems of belief. Six poems have been created through the collage and looping of the source material, highlighting and exaggerating paradoxes to reveal new meaning in the in-between. The recent death of the family matriarch colors the piece.
The listener is invited to locate and sit with each poem for as long as they desire.