Sound + Silence at UNC Chapel Hill

Posted on 26th Apr 2019

 

I've been at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as part of my DisTil Fellowship to host a series of Sound + Silence events, joined by some fabulous artists.

We met daily in the libray on campus to explore silence as a mechanism for deeper understanding. It's been a deep and meaningful week, and I journaled a few of my experiences to share with you! I hope that for everyone that attended the rhythm of life found a rejuvenated groove!

 

APRIL 23
Huge THANKS to Martha Redbone for bringing the sound to the silence yesterday. 40 attendees held the silence for ten minutes then Martha’s voice emerged from the silence for the next 20 minutes and returned to the held silence for another ten minutes. The first notes of Martha’s emergence deeply moved me. It’s hard to express in words, but i'll try- it was an invitation to feel my connection to the native-ness of our country, the land we are sitting on and an invitation to experience her profound beauty.

APRIL 24
There was a rally out front of Wilson Library before Sound + Silence. Thanks to Tatiana Silver Hargreaves for bringing her fiddle and choosing to keep the case closed. We took our ten minutes of silence as a group in the library then travelled to listen to the rally together. When we saw that it had ended we sat together under a tree and Tatiana then opened her case and played dissonant double stops to the sounds of the police helicopters as we chose to continue holding silence as a group. (The posters read no KKK cops at UNC... how can this not already be an obvious hiring policy?)