The 'Periphone' is a development of the Sphincter / Onset piece. It is related to the idea of passage, and condenses the idea that thought is the constant mediation between the outside world and one's internal states. This is what I value most about artistic practice, and what I want to share when I exhibit works. 

The periphone surrounds and makes evident the channel through which thinking happens. I wanted viewers to experience and notice their own channel of thought by interacting with this object. I wanted to address the fact that we sometimes look at art and expect to be told a story. Objects do not tell a story, instead we need to think and speak through them, so in the journey the story can take form.

The pieces play with the anachronistic shape of the old telephone and is evident in the use of the root ‘peri’ meaning around or near. The periphone allows you to hear yourself better. In doing so it reveals an essential fact about our voice: that it is there for others. Speaking to oneself is a great taboo, sometimes perceived as a sign of losing one's mind. But speaking for oneself is also an affirmation, it is empowering.

The works were presented in a solo exhibition entitled 'Whose Voice', as part of the Featured Artist exhibitions at Magdalen Road Studios. For the exhibition I tried different approaches to presenting the pieces. I placed the objects on the wall, allowing or inviting interaction. Visitors could pick up the periphones on the shelves and try them out. I made a coffee drip piece, performing the making and and sharing of the coffee together with a conversation about what people understand and take from art exhibitions, I was interested in overtly making the piece about the sharing and the conversation as well as the consuming, what is taken from the pieces. 

Another display unit functioned as a shop, as some objects at smaller scales were more likely to be thought of as merchandise to be bought and interacted with at one's own pace, without the pressure of trying to "understand the art" in the short time of interaction in an art exhibition.