My poem and sound composition for Holly Wong's multimedia installation relates the trauma experienced by her mother. Through this story of pain and loss, the larger issue of sexual assault and domestic violence comes to the surface to be integrated and healed.

For the text, I wrote in the voice of Wong’s mother, reaching across time and memory to mend pain, secrecy, and loss. At once a lament and a celebration of love, the poem opens up the possibility for a mother to share the anguish of painful secrets she could not voice in her lifetime.

Both artist and poet contribute voiceover for the sound composition, weaving between roles of mother and daughter. The foundation of the installation is an environment of suspended fabric sewn into improvised quilt configurations. Video of braiding hair, cutting fabric, and mending are projected onto the fabric. The sound composition draws on these sounds—scissors, the sewing machine that hums in the childhood memory of the artist—using repetition and dynamics to evoke a solemn space for healing.