The Silence We Speak

The Silence We Speak (08:34 mins) considers the different languages that play a role in the artist’s life and the stories behind her relationship with them. Each language carries traces of her own movement across distances, global hierarchies, familial loss and cultural shifts. The free-verse text was developed in tandem with the sound design and arrangement of personal archive footage and audio from Hong Kong, USA, Japan and Germany to create an interwoven mixed-media piece.

Originally conceptualized with a live performance of the text, this autobiographical piece is an exploration of the silent stories and power dynamics behind language and diaspora.

The piece was developed in the framework of the Asian Performing Artists Lab residency and was performed at AMNASIA.7 (Berliner Ringtheater, 2023).

The work has been screened in short film format at:

Weimar Poetry Film Tage: World Mirror of Poetry, Weimar, 2024

45. Erlanger Poet*innenfest: burning borders flooded land and homes between, Erlanger, 2025

Concept, text & editing: Denise Lee

Voice: Denise Lee, Jackie Jau & Zhou Gen Jing

Instrumentation: Dean Ruddock & Denise Lee