WESTERN FRONT – Transcript

Description:

Based on two spoken and recorded accounts, Transcript is a performance by Judith Doyle that explores the sense of loss that emerges from displacement, translation, and representation.

The first part of the performance explores the physiological displacement of a broken back through a recorded monologue on pain. Doyle is accompanied by projected text that summarizes the voiceover in a series of written statements.

The second part features coloured slides and a live monologue reflecting on the cultural and spatial displacement of emigration from Portugal to Canada.

Transcript concludes with pairs of coloured slides representing the immigration story projected and manipulated alongside an engine-like sound to evoke the memory of movement.

Seen in black and white, a performer with short hair, wearing a sweater, sits on a chair while reading a booklet about the Transcript performance by Judith Doyle. A sharp forward light reflects the performer’s shadow on the white background.

Seen in black and white, a performer with short hair, wearing a sweater, sits on a chair while holding a booklet about the Transcript performance by Judith Doyle. They stare off-camera, their hand wide in front of the booklet, as their sharp shadow reflects on the white background.

Seen in black and white, a performer with short hair, wearing a sweater, speaks while sitting, legs crossed on a chair, holding a booklet about the Transcript by Judith Doyle. A spotlight reflects their sharp shadow on the white background.

Seen in black and white, a performer with short hair sits and speaks with a spotlight overexposing their expression. The projection screen behind shows images from a newspaper, as the words, quote, the brain calmly organizes things, unquote, play in front.

Seen in black and white, a performer with short hair stands from a chair, both the chair and the performer’s face are overexposed by the intense spotlight. In the dark background, the words, quote the brain calmly organizes things, unquote, illuminate.

Seen in black and white, a performer with short hair stands staring at a spotlight illuminating their expression. In the dark background, the words, quote, brain calmly organizes things, unquote, illuminate on a projection screen.

Seen in black and white, in the Grand Luxe Hall sits one chair illuminated by a spotlight, with several white display desks sprawled in the corners. The projection screen in the background shows two images: an empty street and four people speaking to each other, dressed in suits.

Captions:

Judith Doyle, Transcript, photo documentation, Nov 12, 1982.
Judith Doyle, Transcript, photo documentation, Nov 12, 1982.
Judith Doyle, Transcript, photo documentation, Nov 12, 1982.
Judith Doyle, Transcript, photo documentation, Nov 12, 1982.
Judith Doyle, Transcript, photo documentation, Nov 12, 1982.
Judith Doyle, Transcript, photo documentation, Nov 12, 1982.
Set of Transcript in the Grand Luxe Hall, photo documentation, Nov 12, 1982.

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Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.