ARTIST STATEMENT

Some people take comfort in the sounds of the street life: the fast cars, blaring horns, and meaningless chatter. Those who take comfort haven’t been catcalled. For many women these street sounds are power-based attacks directed at their bodies. As a survivor of a street-based sexual assault/rape, I feel the lack of control over my streets everyday. As a sound designer, I wanted to document these harmful sounds and create sound art that highlights the commonality and seriousness of catcalling to the ears of the unaffected.
My work attempts to achieve this through a mixture of real and produced catcall recordings, immersed in seemingly normal soundscapes, where street harassment is common. Walking every day, and recording in different environments, I subjected myself to being catcalled constantly. Although it was a draining experience, when the piece came together, it gave me some power and a sense of control. While the soundscapes are for the unaffected to have their ears—and minds—opened, I aimed to make something that anyone could relate to.