COUGH
audio track, amplifier, lamp, wooden crate, dryer lint
3' x 2' x 2'
2006
Coral Street Arts House nee Beatty Mills was originally used to card bales of cotton. Copious amounts of dust were generated as a result of this process. Workers breathed in the dust and contracted brown lung as well as other respiratory ailments. In this piece, I researched the binding of the dust to the soft tissue of the lungs and the physiological manifestations of the persistent coughs of workers that I imagine resounded in that space. I chose to visualize a cough particular to the history of the space, building a sonic sculpture using light and dryer lint known for its ability to disperse dust with a minimum of movement and its resemblance to unprocessed cotton fibers.
