Review: Lavinia Greenlaw, Audio Obscura

Lavinia Greenlaw’s Audio Obscura traps you in your own curiosity. The more you overhear, the more curiosity takes over, yet the more you know, the more fearful you are of what you may discover. Greenlaw exploits that moment when unconscious overhearing becomes conscious understanding.

Gradually, subconsciously, you piece together these spoken fragments in search of answers, untangling the knot of narratives and emotions. But as you uncover the depths and shadows of these peoples’ lives, you begin to wish that you had not. Overwhelmed and suffocated by the voices, you want to retreat and seek refuge from the realities behind them.

Greenlaw uses the act of listening to alter the act of seeing; through the use of audio, she obscures our vision. As you listen, the space around you changes from dynamic and alive to cinematic and distant. Both the space and the voices slip in and out of focus.

Greenlaw’s Audio Obscura manipulates our desire to pry into what we see and hear, forcing you to try and understand what cannot, and possibly should not, be said.

[Review by Olivia Mull]