SILENCED

Silenced is a 14-day durational performance work and altered book.

Created in both silence and solitude, the word silence has been systematically written (more than 65,000 times), over the original printed text of a copy of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, until the story became restricted and illegible - in itself, silent. The only words that remain legible are those quotes pertaining to silence.

While speaking of the plight of women more generally, Silenced mimics themes from the novel, acting as a work of defiance — handmaids were not permitted to read or write.

Silenced was created for Nasty Women Connecticut and Yale Institute of Sacred Music as part of the online exhibition Silent Fire, where it became part of a digital collaboration with music composed by Barbara Strozzi, performed by Andrea Walker and Carolyn Craig.