Process

In our early conversations, we were excited by the idea of distilling/smoothing the jagged memory down to something pure (inspired partly by Lucier's project). Initially, our plan was to print the distorted sound wave images on top of some other image, and the art therapy component would be about smoothing or uncovering that image by removing the distorted "noise" placed on top of it (akin to resolving the negative emotions surrounding a breakup, leaving only the original pleasant memories). However, we were unable to resolve where this other image would come from– would it be an image of the couple, or of a location they had visited? Or a pleasant landscape or other innocuous image? Ultimately we decided that the first option might be too painful, defeating the purpose of reconstruction, and the second option lacked connection and thus therapeutic potential. This led to our decision to print only the sound "noise" visuals, and let the person performing the ritual transform it into their own abstract image that would have meaning for them.

We also made a change to the material we were printing on. Initially we had planned to simply print on paper. We also discussed printing on canvas, or fabric, or even printing the sound waves in string form as seen in the research above. We settled on acetate because of the possibility to overlay the various printed iterations on top of each other. The process of transformation felt important, and we decided this would be a way of allowing all phases of the process to be legible if the person performing the ritual wanted to bring that element into their final artwork.