Love Novellas

Description:

Love Novellas is a series of eight “audio portraits” by Jerri Allyn that takes the form of a sound installation, artist book, and cassette tape. Told from the perspective of a heartbroken queer woman in her thirties who is living in New York, Love Novellas reflects on marriage, political apathy, war, love, death, feminism, vegetarianism, smoking, waitressing, workplace harassment, and lesbianism.

At Western Front, Allyn recited excerpts from the book while a pre-recorded tape of her reading played in tandem. The live and recorded voices ran parallel to each other, sometimes overlapping, resulting in a disorienting echo that competed for the viewer’s attention. Breaking from scripted speech into a stream of consciousness dialogue, Allyn’s reading combined quick-dialogue with sensual poetry at a frenetic pace.

Video documentation is available upon request.