Searching for the weight of the words | Echoes under my skin

‘I am listening to the weight of words’ and ‘Echoes under my skin’ are investigations into the subconscious underbelly of ethical decision-making, the inherited beliefs and subliminal voices that influence our behaviours, moral values, and perceptions of self and others. 

Following the sound of her inner critic and using its resonating voice as a gateway, Heiss finds it closely tied to the sound of her late mother. Even 20 years after their last conversation, the maternal voice echoes within her judgement of self and others. 

Upon closer listening, the artist finds the voice is fluid and difficult to pinpoint. It shifts between parental statements, common moralistic sayings, and her childhood deductions of her own character shaped by them. Heiss finds the nuances of interpreting behaviours connected to these statements, which ultimately shape the direction and meaning of the messages. The sayings reverberating through appear common at times, which results in a light-heartedness that can be deceiving. For example, ‘Don’t cry over spilled milk.’ seems harmless enough, but if we tune into a situation where it would be used, wouldn’t it mean asking the receiver to dismiss or suppress their feelings? And couldn’t the repeated use encourage a child to stop expressing them, ingraining the message that their feelings are unwanted? 

‘Echoes under my skin’ consists of a skin-like object through which the viewer can see a video, lips moving, speaking inaudible words, an inner dialogue only heard by oneself.

The sculpture attempts to express how these silent words hum below the surface unnoticed, forming a filter between the inner self and the public.

‘I am listening to the weight of words’ is a whispering ceramic sculpture. The form resembles an organ; mutterings heard from it are words that have been said too many times to have their weight remembered. To hear them now, the viewer has to listen closely and pay attention.

Through these works, the artist invites us to remember the weight of our words. To listen to their origin and see their influences of past parental statements and common moralistic sayings. To question how much they truly are our own, and if they are worthwhile keeping? Some may be an inherited legacy we never asked for. A hand-me-down from a collective that never knew us, accepted and repeated without question. Words that may lead us to follow ethical codes that were established for us rather than consciously chosen. Others may be keepsakes to be treasured.