I use the shell as a sapphic symbol, a hearing aid between two queer generations. My grandmother, Henrietta, came out as a lesbian in her 90’s. She was known as the Shell Lady of Matagorda Beach and is a big part of why I have had a fascination with shells for as long as I can remember. As a hard of hearing person, shells have another layer of meaning for me because they were the first hearing aids.
My sound piece includes the Golden Gate Bridge humming as well as my mediated voice singing “daloy polizei”, a Yiddish song meaning “fuck the police”. My grandmother’s Jewish culture and faith were an intrinsic part of her life, and our American society’s policing of her identity kept her from being openly, fully herself for most of her life.
This sculpture is a monument to queer frequencies and new structures of listening.
Henrietta passed away in 2015 and I am still reckoning with my grief, her audacious sense of humor and self, and the world that tried to tamper her down. She loved googly eyes and going crabbing on the dock.
We place shells on her grave.