TE// THE MOUNTA//S
60-minute Sonic Essay • Cultural Soundscape • Factory International Commission
WHAT REMAINS WHEN A LANGUAGE BEGINS TO DISAPPEAR?
TE// THE MOUNTA//S is a 60-minute sonic essay exploring hidden languages, coded expression and quieter forms of resistance through sound.
Commissioned by Factory International, the work draws from Nüshu, a secret writing system created by women in Hunan, China, alongside traces of Ogham inscriptions, field recordings, processed language, archival voices and original composition.
Structured across four acts: Marks, Voices, Transmutation and Future Language—the work combines composition, spoken word and sonic research into a cultural soundscape examining how memory, identity and resistance continue to survive beyond language itself.
COMMISSION
Factory International
Aviva Studios, Manchester, UK
60-minute Guest Mix
LISTEN
RESEARCH
The project draws together:
• Nüshu manuscripts and feminist histories
• Ogham inscriptions
• Field recordings
• Archival speech
• Contemporary political writing
• Sonic ethnography
process
TE// THE MOUNTA//S was developed as a four-part sonic essay rather than a conventional DJ mix. Inspired by the dialogue between Ai Weiwei and Sinéad O'Connor as postcolonial rebel spirits resisting systems of domination, each movement explores a different way language can persist beyond words.
I — Marks
Language begins as inscription. Drawing from Nüshu and Ogham, the opening considers writing as an act of preservation, where symbols become vessels for memory.
II — Voices
Archival recordings, spoken word and vocal textures examine the human voice as a carrier of identity, grief and collective resistance.
III — Transmutation
Language fragments dissolve into sound. Field recordings, processed speech and composition merge, exploring how meaning survives through transformation rather than permanence.
IV — Future Language
The final movement imagines new forms of communication, where listening itself becomes an act of cultural memory, connection and renewal.
output
The commission marked a shift towards a research-led artistic methodology, integrating historical research, writing, sound design and spatial composition within a single practice.
The project established new collaborations across music, choreography and performance, and continues to inform the development of future installation and spatial listening works.
Reflection
By treating sound as a form of cultural memory rather than simply musical expression, the project became the foundation for my ongoing research into hidden languages, migration, identity and the ways listening can preserve histories that resist disappearance.