Creating a space for empathy through non-verbal storytelling.
Storytelling allows us to fulfill our desire to make connections with others. It helps us to reflect on ourselves and others, understand someone and their feelings, and layer in our own experiences to put ourselves in others’ shoes. Stories are often told through words, which creates obstacles that lead to miscommunication including language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, physical and psychological distance, and discomfort and pressure of silence.
This installation creates a sense of empathy through non-verbal language. “Feeling” a story through senses instead of hearing or reading allows the audience to drop into a moment and layer their senses that are hidden in their own stories. This activates connectivity and generates an empathetic reaction, leading to reducing the psychological distance between the storyteller and the audience.
Inspiration
We asked a few people to write their personal stories on the theme of "sense of belonging and identity". The installation was based on the poem below:
Here
This island is my new home.
Soft rain, gentle as a caresse, welcomes me.
The warmth of the sun is just of another kind
from the one I was used to, elsewhere.
There are no shadows here, everything is revealed at once.
Under this light, everything feels more real, even the city, my hands,
and even my thoughts are clearer.
I look around to feel and harmonise with the people,
the space, the sound of another language.
Here is my chance for a new life,
for my past to become my future
and for myself to become a new being.
Will I be able to emerge from this flowing crowd?
[And feel proud of my own doing]
Will I still hold-on to my own self in the years to come?
[And not be swept away by the desire to become new and different]
Will I still be able to look at myself in the mirror?
[And feel at once connected to my soul and ancestral home]
Will I still?
23.01.23
Images
We sourced several landscape images from Britain and Italy, printing them out in black and white and colour respectively both on paper and acetate. We then layered and photographed them again, repeating the process several times until the desired level of abstraction was achieved. The images were supposed to have no clear visual references to a particular place but to a sentiment of it. We played with colour and monochrome tones to convey conflicting responses to places based on the poem. Whilst initially the dichotomy of the place was accentuated, it eventually amalgamated and merged into the same unique place that embodied the feelings of belonging and displacement.
Sound
We prepared two sound files, one that was played along with the black and white images, which illustrated the experience of being at home and moving away from home, and the other on the opposite side of the room with coloured images, which aligned with the experience of being in a new city. For the sounds related to home, we attempted to express the mundaneness and familiarity by using the sounds of a ticking clock, heartbeat, and people chatting in the background. On the other hand, the sounds away from home had much more variety and constant changes including sounds of people chatting clearly, people talking in different languages, rain, tube announcements, music, and a busy city ambience.
These two sound files were played at the same time on opposite sides of the room, which created layers and illustrated the ongoing journey of questioning “Where do I belong?” and “Who am I?”. The sounds were inspired by the poem, but in the process of turning it into a physical experience, we focused on making the space abstract and open enough for the audience to interpret the story in their own ways and layer in their own stories.
Lighting
In the middle, we placed three chairs, two facing one wall and one in the middle facing the opposite one. As the room was dark, we shone a spotlight on the chairs. Utilising light and positioning objects to communicate an instruction fits with the core of the installation concept of non-verbal storytelling. Additionally, the visual reference of a stage spotlight adds a twofold dimension where the viewer finds themselves both the viewer and the viewed, the subject and the object. We are both observers and the observed in the theatre of identity and belonging, where we are empathised and with whom we empathise with.
