Angela Ellsworth


2014
Support for <i>Soundproofed</i>, a solo performance in a Mormon Church-funded mall in Utah as part of the artist’s ongoing <i>Plural Wife Project</i>.
<i>Soundproofed</i> is a performance informed by soundproofed architecture as well as unscientific tactics of listening. How do we hear what is deemed secret or invisible? What does a soundproofed building sound like? What is heard between the insulation and the sheetrock? These questions inform <i>Soundproofed </i>by exploring the radical act of listening and the possibility of hearing. Preliminary research for <i>Soundproofed </i>begins with listening to the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Broadway and Columbus in New York City and recording sounds heard through the soundproofed architecture. This piece is part of the ongoing <i>Plural Wife Project</i> (2008-present), exploring homosocial dynamics within the construct of early Mormon polygamy in relation to contemporary queer discourse around marriage, family, and non-heteronormativity. The <i>Plural Wife </i><i>Project</i> is embedded in excavating personal history to understand my own identity as a queer woman and feminist with polygamous roots.