Latitudes – Sometimes to One Hundred

A lonely protagonist wanders Western Sydney, monitoring the audio levels of various everyday occurrences. Exploring what it means to give voice and to listen in all its messy and wonderful forms, this film features prose from Eda Gunaydin, animation by Serwah Attafuah and score by Nerdie (1300).

Latitudes weaves together nine artistic commissions from A.Girl, BLESSED, Claire Cao, Eda Gunaydin, Gillian Kayrooz, Mo Aung, Nerdie (1300), Sela Vai, and Serwah Attafuah in three dynamic short films that explore themes of audibility, distance and perspective. 151ºE is the second video in the series.

I'm shouting but you think I'm angry. It's not too loud. In fact, my parents say that I mumble.

My mother says karnndan konuuyorşun. You speak from your stomach. Over here we project.

The volume on the television at my parents’ place is often turned way up, sometimes to 100. On the train I get good at tuning out music that blasts or trickles out of speakers instead of being pumped primly through earbuds. Some say the former lacks decorum but maybe you're just boring.

I'm kidding. But I don't know about the message this kind of tutting sends: you can use public space, but you have to be quiet. It seems like saying you can exist but not too much.

There's a politics to shushing. I've tutored in libraries where I've been told there's no talking allowed, anywhere. But talking aloud, is how people learn, and I thought that's what libraries were for.

We looked down on noise. But noise isn't always hostile: sometimes it's we who are hostile to it. It's because we've drawn a spurious correlation between criminality and boisterousness. You think what you hear is anti-social, but I think you may not be listening right.