Voices at hand

A Performance Residency by Wendy Trusler
August 1 – 9 , 2011

On August 1, Wendy Trusler will begin the Picton chapter of Voices at Hand. This on-going project is part art installation, part performance residency and part travelling archive. Each day, Trusler will read, clip and sort personal correspondence in the storefront window of Books & Company in a piece that serves to examine the essence of why we keep letters.

This is the third port of call for Voices at Hand. In March 2010, Trusler staged a month-long residency in downtown Peterborough. The response was astounding: by it’s close she had worked through over 1,600 letters, dating as far back as 1854, written in English, French, Italian, Spanish and Russian. A marriage proposal, a letter from a soldier in a WWII POW camp, volumes of cringe-worthy notes passed in class in the ‘90s and a joyous recounting of a reunion in the Channel Islands five days after Liberation Day were among the letters posted on the store window or featured in email updates.

The October, 2010 remount of the project in Toronto’s Roncesvalles Village yielded submissions that pushed the total number of letters close to 2,500. As Trusler sorted, letters accumulated in wooden boxes, bookshelves and mason jars, revealing countless colours and  textures and bringing forth a range of compelling stories in the threads of people’s lives. Many passersby returned daily to hear readings while others followed the “living window” on the Voices at Hand  blog.

To follow the project, visit Trusler at Books & Company or check out http://voicesathand.blogspot.com and http://twitter.com. Many voices will emerge in this unpredictable, spontaneous, private yet very public installation.

Wendy Trusler is a visual artist who creates site-responsive installations that incorporate drawing, painting, sculpture and film. Her installations have been presented in a variety of contexts, from galleries to storefronts, industrial spaces to parks. Her interest in the roles that symbol and language play in coding memory continues with Voices at Hand.

Books & Company

289 Main Street

Picton, ON

K0K 2T0

613.476.3037

Performance Residency Hours:

Monday – Saturday: 2pm – 8pm

Sunday: 10am – 2pm

Tags: books, performance, Prince Edward County