Outside Voices
(2020-07-03)

Over the past year, like much of south-eastern Australia, the place where I live has been affected by
drought, fire, severe hailstorms and the global COVID-19 pandemic. Responding to these events has made
me think about how boundaries fragment and create distinctions: inside/outside, public/private,
human/animal/machine, mine/yours/ours/theirs. The boundaries are containers for ideas; they help me
prioritise decisions, energy and information. They also help me forget, ignore, become blind. If I become
more aware of the boundaries, redraw them, then my perception and thinking can change too.
This pair couples inside voices (kettle and fridge) and outside voices (birds and traffic) which accompany
the start of my day. The first image is of the kettle, on a bench beside the fridge. Behind the kettle is a
reflection of the garden beyond the windows, from where the second image and soundscape were
recorded. The second image is of the kitchen, where the kettle and fridge are positioned.