We’ve all felt it… A loud band reverberates on our skin. A high pitch screech makes us flinch. The bass from our favourite song hits us right in the chest. Sound has a silent power that compels everything around it. Photographer Jordan Lee-Garbutt captured this phenomenon in his exhibition The Power of Sound, and the images are absolutely spectacular.
Jordan put film over a metal subwoofer, placed paint in the centre of it, played sound frequencies through the subwoofer and photographed the displacement that occurred. Different sound frequencies caused the paint to move in different patterns. It may sound like a science lesson, but, in essence, Jordan photographed the transformation of sound energy to kinetic energy. In doing this, The Power of Sound showcases the universe’s potential for variability and celebrates individuality.
Each image in the exhibition is accompanied by a poetic narrative by writer Mo Libretto. Mo too saw the universe in Jordan’s pictures and built on that narrative with poems that deal with the cosmos among other themes. The images and writings can be admired individually or together, but for me, they emphasised individual interpretation.
Just like the unique patterns of the paint, each painting evokes unique emotions. Looking at a picture from the side is different to looking at it from the front. The splatter pattern, the colour, the poem, these all change according to how they are viewed, and – more importantly – by whom. People were drawn to the same picture for completely different reasons, and even though all the images were incredible, you could help but choose a favourite.
The Power of Sound is Jordan’s first major solo exhibition, and with it, he has managed to capture something we all feel but never see. You can see Jordan’s process for the exhibition below:
When Monday 18 July to Saturday 30 July 2016
Where The Balcony, 157 Main Road, Woodstock
Contact [email protected]
Photography courtesy