“…lilac shrieks and scarlet bellowings…”

Overview

...lilac shrieks and scarlet bellowings... (2010) is a nine minute visual and sonic interpretation of six related texts of E. E. Cummings that focus on themes of nature and the cycle of life. The film is in six linked sections, each focusing on one of Cummings' texts enhanced with images by Jean Dethuex and electroacoustic music by Mikel Kuehn. The sonic material is derived from manipulated environmental sounds and the recitation of Cummings texts by soprano Deborah Norin-Kuehn. The images were created first by Detheux (in 2008) and were then set to music by Kuehn in 2009-10. The visual idea behind the work was to create a life in multiple parts, followed by a "recollection" of that life, as if at the moment of death.