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Paper short abstract:

Every person is unique and has a story to tell. Nevertheless, many times individual stories are not heard, especially within the modern-day noise-filled busy urban lifestyle. Photography, sonic composition and oral accounts are the three main components of the Aural Postcards.

Paper long abstract:

Aural Postcards derived from my research into the idea that everyone is a migrant and has felt displacement at some point in their life. Even birth is inherently a process of forced migration. Every different way in which one might come into this world there is always a sense of being pushed from a place of comfort to the cold unknown. Displacement can often be associated with a desire for communication with distant meaningful people, evoking memories and feelings of belonging that have either been lost or transformed.

With the Aural Postcards, I focused on the uniqueness of every person and how they allow for powerful stories to arise from each individual's experience. These processes of dislocation, being more or less forced upon individuals, shape the way in which they perceive their surroundings as familiar territories. In this respect, it could be argued that all stories share a certain common core, particularly manifested in people's need for connection to others through space and sound.

For this project, I sought to combine the sense of lifelike spatial awareness promoted by the binaural recordings of the locations suggested by the subjects with a surreal approach to the visual element. The photographic composition assisted in the creation of the inner universe created by the subject of the Aural Postcard. The verbal message was either an original composition by the subject or another textual reference spoken in English and/or in their native tongue.