El Espiritu de Vaho

A quad sound installation of metal, light and glass built at the exhibition for Vaho.

Since Vaho couldn’t at the Exhibition I built an installation inside my studio to brings you the spirit of the absent Goddess. I had originally designed Vaho with some of the linework metalwork that you see here in the studio but when it came to the end, she didn’t need it. As my brother always tells me, “Less is more, Chelsea”.

I had been dreaming about this installation all year but all of my time had been taken up with building Vaho so I never had time to realize them. Ever since I crossed the border from the United States I have been fascinated with the process of construction and how it differs from the States. So much is made from cement and during the process of construction and also with derelict building, you see these long lines of rebar sticking out in all directions from the architecture. I am captivated by these forms and building Vaho brought me even closer to this process since she was built that same way.

When I imagined this installation, I thought about the steel rebar that Vaho is built from reaching its fingers down into the Earth and traveling to this space. The place where her Eye was born. Like bones breaking up through the ground into lines and curves of geometry, finding the source from where her glass was created. Light amplifying her complexity casting shadows in all directions and her voice carried with her.

For this installation, I made a sound portrait; a multichannel audio recordings that sonically captures a space. I made a quad audio portrait for the installation, recorded inside her space, capturing all her sounds from entering her, to lighting the fire, pouring her water, making her vapor and more. The portrait was recording from a single night spent with her, displaced inside this installation, her voice carried with the metal bones that have found their way from El Hato to my studio where Vahos first fire was lit.