EXPERIMENT 2: Singing the landscape 1 (Kejimkujik)

performance, audio, song, site, land, water
September 2021
How can I make a map of the landscape with my voice?

A picture of Lake Kejimkujik on a sunny summer day - blue sky is reflected in the water and a crop of green frees above a shoreline mirror themselves below. — *The view from the kayak as I sang – the landscape I was singing.*

On this trip to Kejimkujik, on the lake, in the boat, I wanted to find a way to sing the landscape. Rotating, slowly, 360 degrees, I used the line of trees and rocks and foliage that I could see at the horizon as a score, translating what I saw to sounds made by my voice.

I am a guest on this land. I am a visitor, I am uninvited. I have been in Mi’kma’ki for fifteen years. I have visited Kejimkujik four times. I am navigating the sickening legacy of colonialism in which I am immersed. I did not continue with this project past the first experiment. It felt like I was imposing my own ignorance onto a rich and storied landscape. I enjoyed the act of singing, and the performance in the moment was genuine, embodied, and sited. The first act is the singing of the landscape; the second is the realization that it is not my song to sing.