Khadija Cecile Niang
Coastal whisper
Conch shell, shelf, Senegalese wax fabric from my aunt, sound
17 min on loop
In my final degree show, I wanted to incorporate a piece in honour of oral tradition. In the last few years I’ve been reflecting on how the stories told and songs sang by my family are a key reason why despite having never lived there, I’ve always felt deeply rooted in my Senegalese identity.
In this soundscape, I bring together field recordings from Senegal: family parties, the coast, the rivers, histories of my mum’s home town told by a local guide and interviews with my parents about their relationship to swimming and the sea, which form the ways I relate to water.
The sound came quietly through a shell, like a little secret whisper you had to lift to your ear or lean down to listen to, reminiscent of a childhood spent holding large shells to my ear, eyes closed, I could hear the crash of the waves left behind when we came home from the coast.