Words and Soundscape by Anisah Awad
This piece is part of the “Frenquencies” issue
“Soundscape in ambiguity and absurdity” is a portal into the world of Chicago-based artist, Anisah, and their communities.
Responding to the now-normalized compulsion to document one’s life through exposing it on platforms (that themselves profit off the human need to be witnessed), the mix plays with ambiguity to both document our lives and networks and to resist.
Anisah builds on mundane sounds and noises collected in early 2024 – music, celebration, public space, nature, friendship – to reflect the dynamics of familiarity and discovery that make up our every day life. Further layering of textures and distortion, and alterations in tempo and volume, convey the emotional tension and sense of delirium that many of us face as we navigate a world designed to eradicate any semblance of community or belonging.
This curation of experience aims to reveal both life’s absurdities and reassurances, for example, the relief in returning to one’s community, history, or unity with nature.
The soundscape is best listened to with headphones, in a sense of stillness, eyes closed.