Big Whisper Inspired Piece on Canvas by Meg Forsyth

We commissioned Netherlands based American artist Meg Forsyth to create a piece on canvas and a limited edition print of that piece, pictured above, that expressed what the Big Whisper means for her. Below is the story she shared with us.

By happenstance, some years ago I encountered a palm reader that told me I have the mark of a healer—vertical lines on the Mound of Mercury—that plump little pillow of tissue below the pinky finger. Looking back on this, I have always imagined that if my life had taken a different path, I may have ended up as a surgeon. Grafting meshes, surgical enhancements, stimuli to different organs and structures of the body are deeply fascinating to me. The interventions we use on the body to improve it, heal it, or otherwise alter it have been in practice for millennia. My work intends to investigate the intersection of accumulated (sometimes mystical) human knowledge and its application in the contemporary world.

For The Big Whisper, I considered the human ear and the concept of sound healing therapy, a practice that has been in use for thousands of years. Ancient tribes and cultures have long believed that certain instruments have specific healing powers. The didgeridoo in Aboriginal culture, the gong in Asia, and the Jewish shofar are some examples. Because sound is an audible wave of vibrating atoms (pressure), it is thought to influence all matter to various degrees. Sound can be used to heal, as is the case when one summons Delta brain waves with the Universal Om, or used to destroy, as we have seen in the recent use of sonic weapons like LRAD against Somali pirates. Even the sound frequencies emitted from cellular devices have now been linked to the severe decline in bee populations. Sound is special because it is a powerful invisible force, and that is how I see the Big Whisper project.