VOX LIBERATUS

 

The Vox Liberatus audio component of the project is meant to serve as the voice to Vox Silentium. This is a liberation, as it’s title indicates – a voice liberated. After reflecting on the project that I collaborated with women and women on color almost 2 years ago, I was curious to find out if anything had changed, but I was disappointed to find out that not much had. Women of color continue to feel invisible and unsupported by this institution that didn’t admit women until 1972 and continues to lack in its acceptance and academic support of women of color.

 

I followed up with some of the women that participated in Vox Silentium 2 years ago, some of which had graduated and others who were upperclassmen. Some of the women reflected on how leaving Dartmouth highlighted how this institution is only a magnified 4 years of the “real world”, others spoke about how Vox Silentium shaped their experience at Dartmouth after participating in the project.

 

I decided to collaborate with 3 women of color for this audio project. I wrote the poem that they would each recite during individual meetings. Each woman carried her own cadence and breathed a new life into the poem each time they recited it. Danica Rodriguez, who opens up the audio piece, reminds us of the past – “vox silentium”. She is joined by the voice of Dalia Rodriguez and together they recite, “diagnosed with clinical depression” and situate us in a reflective state of mind. The tone is serious but inviting to those that wish to listen to these women and the stories they are trying to share. A chorus of women join in to recite, “not being seen...overlooked” that remind us of the ways in which many of these women feel invisible and unsupported on this campus – this “camp Dartmouth”. The women alternate between telling the universal story of women on this campus. They share the voice, coming together every once in a while to support one another through the words that they all feel as one: “the token…fetishized…bury it here…and move on”. A chorus of “erased” permeates the ears of the listener, with each woman reciting the word and finally coming together as one. And as the women take us through their darkest moments during their time on this campus, they all end with a message directed towards whoever might be in need of these words – “this will not last forever…” VOX LIBERATUS.

 

(play the audio piece below)