Jamaica Fredericks

Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York

Artist statement

I use listening as a starting point for drawing. The process begins with a field recording I’ve made, during walks in cities, in markets, parks, or on public transportation. While each recording represents a specific moment that occurred, like photography, field recording is subjective and not truthful. Every recording is influenced by the artist’s framing decisions: when to start and stop, microphone distance and angle, the tools and technology used. As audio, a recording only captures relationships between sounds, leaving the listener to infer and imagine the place and sound sources. Listening, the relationship between sound and sound source, and sound as an omnipresent yet invisible element within space, has long captured the imagination of philosophers, composers, and artists. Likewise, artists from Sol LeWitt to Trisha Donnelly have described the artist as a “transmitter.” Each drawing is sound transmitted by pulling at a moment in time. The philosopher Peter Szendy asked, “Can I transmit my listening, unique as it is?” When drawing, to mediate subjectivity, I work within a system inspired by John Cage and chance operations. I listen to a predetermined section of a field recording on repeat a given number of times. While I listen, I either make gestural marks or erase the marks I’ve already made. Repeated listens allow for deeper focus on background noise and the spaces between sounds. The loops of a recording artificially sustain a sonic moment. When time is up, I...

Artwork