Created during The Ancestry Project, Small Happiness is an intimate.

Soundscape made from the materials and spontaneous moments of my daily life.Segments recorded on my iPhone in Beaurepaire Village, Ottawa, and en route to Toronto over the course of a few years.

for
self
those from before
now
and to come

Voice is ancient technology.

How are you using yours?

What will you choose to bring forth?

This work originated at Todmorden Mills Heritage Site as part of my Reconfigured Emergence Installation within the Women of Courage Exhibition, organized by Culture Link and held at Todmorden Mills Heritage Site and Scarborough Museum.

The cover art is a layered visual work combining my photography and painting, digitally superimposed to create an atmospheric sequence for this sound piece.

Swamp Soothe was an answered call from the ancestors, the land, and the water. It came to me while on a guided tour of the site. Overcome by grief at the exclusion and erasure of Black and Indigenous bodies from the historical official record, I left the tour to walk along Oxbow Trail. I stopped by the swamp to release my tears, and in response to the anguish, this vocable came through, bringing comfort to my soul.

With love and gratitude for the ancients,
Althea