WAUKESHA – The semester’s first art gallery exhibit at the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha, “In One Voice,” an installation by Pacia Sallomi, had its debut, appropriately, on September 11, 2001, at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. It will remain in the Fine Arts Center Gallery on campus at 1500 N. University Dr. until October 4.
Admission is free and open to the public, but experiencing the aural exhibit requires a 10-minute commitment. To gain admission, stop by between 9:00 a.m. and noon or phone ahead to (262) 521-5445.
In a room lit with a single candle, a recording of male and female voices recites an ancient Akkadian hymn to the goddess Ishtar. She is believed to have aspects of a generator and of a destroyer of life, and she symbolizes death and rejuvenation. The voices speak in a dozen different languages and build from a single strong male voice to a crescendo and then fall, melodiously, finally trailing off with a couple of softly spoken words with mixed voices. Ishtar is apprised of the difficulties of “the clan” and asked for her favor and grace and, finally, for joyful existence.
The Akkadians flourished some 4,500 years ago in the land of Mesopotamia. Their language was Semitic. “I first came across this piece in 1995 and was moved by the universality of these requests and obstacles, the sense of pain and separation that is a part of the human condition, the request for unification, clarity and understanding that is still relevant today,” the artist comments.
Sallomi, who has been teaching at Carroll College since 1997, holds an MFA from Texas Tech University, Lubbock. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis, and a master’s at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. She has exhibited in the greater Milwaukee area and Madison in Wisconsin, in Texas, Indiana, New York, Colorado, New Mexico, and Illinois. |
