“Over the last few years, I have been experiencing severe hearing loss due to otosclerosis. Initially a means to document and grieve this loss, #lostfoundsound has evolved into a work about the importance of communication and listening. It is about the tools needed to amplify our listening, but also to slow down enough to grasp what is truly important.” Alison Bigg

#lostfoundsound was launched at the Pat Martin Bates Gallery, Victoria BC, in the summer of 2023 in conjunction with Alison Bigg’s exhibition Auriculs. In his catalogue essay, curator Kegan McFadden writes:

A parallel project to Auricals is the artistbook, #lostfoundsound, produced in a limited edition with Victoria-based micro press, flask. In a series of hand-pulled prints with blind embossing, pronto-lithography, photo-etching, and stencil Bigg once again fuses historical data, practical knowledge, and her own interpretation of the subject — that is, how information is received and transmitted. Specifically, how language migrates from sonic to visual (what was signaled is now signed). Through illustrations depicting the mechanics of American Sign Language, as well as her own found sculptures, Bigg bridges Benjamin’s hypothesis of the aura with elements of magical realism through phrases such as, “a radio for noisy pain” with accompanying lettering. Text on other prints suggest prototypes for how these Auricals might help navigate specific situations: “Gossip Machine”, “to filter misunderstandings”, “for shouting”, “for chatting with small animals”, while others simply offer the somber: SILENCE. The book’s 3D-printed cover, in shocking orange, underscores the element of play so intrinsic to Bigg’s output. Designed to resemble the Build-It-Yourself kits popularized in the mid Twentieth Century, this articulated cover is replete with funnel, hose, tentacles, perforated whatsits and tapered whatchamacallits, so that anyone could assemble their own Aurical device.

#lostfoundsound exists as an edition of eight, each with a series of eight hand-made hybrid prints that consist of solar plate etchings, pronto lithography prints of American Sign Language diagrams, blind embossing and spray-painted stencils. This series of prints is housed in an aluminum box with a plastic 3-D printed hinged lid. Size: 22” X 10” X 4” (when box is open it extends to 45.75”)

Alison Bigg is an interdisciplinary artist who speaks about the senses, how we listen but don’t always hear the overload of information in this time. She makes figurative tools to help with experiencing the senses more fully. Alison works with found objects, ceramics, printmaking and installation. She graduated from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design, took an Independent Studies year at Victoria School of Art and is now working full time in her studio on the traditional territories of the Lkwungen peoples, also known as Victoria, BC.

This project was commissioned by the Victoria Arts Council and Alison received funding from the BC Arts Council’s ARTS Impact Grant and the Canada Council Explore and Create grant.