Medium Specificity

Trust Me Poem

Artist Teacher Statement:
In recording my poem, I hoped to explore the unique aspects of audio recordings as a medium. Poetry especially makes for an interesting exploration of specific affordances and limitations of audio recordings. Audio recordings of poetry can be even more expressive than a simple text, especially in the voice of the author because each person would read the text differently and emphasize different portions. This is one of the affordances of audio recordings. However, one of the limitations of audio is that it lacks the visual stimulation of a video. You cannot see what the author looks like or their facial expressions as they read. It is also limited because you cannot view the poem all at once visually like you can a physical representation or picture of the poem. Poetry has always been celebrated visually in form and layout, but people have also created poetry readings, slams, and sharing writing aloud. I felt that it was fitting therefore to represent the auditory element of a poetry reading. Being the creator of this specific poem also lends interesting knowledge as you hear the reading of the poem that wouldn't be known otherwise.