Alan Forster evokes the history of Black experience in Western society and asks whether standing on guard for one another includes listening to voices too often ignored or silenced.
The work’s surrealism collapses past and present. The bound Black figure and distant vessel recall the transatlantic slave trade, while reminding us that its legacy did not end with abolition. Its questions extend beyond one history, confronting the prejudice and exclusion through which many racialized people still struggle to have their voices heard and their place within society fully recognized.
Silence, here, is not absence. It carries histories suppressed, experiences disregarded and injustices left unanswered. The Sound of Silence asks whether witnessing is enough — or whether standing on guard also requires us to listen, speak and act.
