In “Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence,” Rodney Carter discusses how natural silences “entered into by choice” (Carter 228) can be utilised in a way that allows minority groups to situate themselves within archival memory. I observe that Carter’s examination of silence in archives can be equated to “natural silences” within autobiography. Discarding the traditional view of autobiography as a book of prose documenting the experiences of the writer, autobiographical content appears to be embodied in various forms of self-representation as well. For example, Fred Wah categorizes his book Diamond Grill as biofiction— an autobiographical account enhanced through the elaboration of experiences and the use of varied writing styles (Wah 184-85). Wah weaves poetry, prose, and recipes together to produce an array of anecdotes. These anecdotes coalesce to fabricate a relational story of his struggle to address the hyphens the exist between his Chinese-Swedish-Canadian identity. The narrative is disjointed because of the unconventional writing style, but I propose that this disjointedness behaves as a natural silence. Wah’s story contains areas within which the obscurity of his poetic use metaphorically represents the hyphenation he has endured throughout his life. In the “Afterword” of Diamond Grill, Wah reveals numerous concepts behind the book. He discusses “doors and their hinges [as] material to the implicit metaphors of hyphenation” (179) and the “long sentence on the Chinese Head Tax (see p.130)…as an attempt to dislodge the privilege of the (complete) sentence” (185). His writing possesses the voices of the immigrant population, but the mysterious nature of their silence compels the reader to dig deeper into the text and realize this on their own.
Reflecting on the comments Wah made regarding his narrative, I can see similar features in other forms of artistic expression. For example, Jessica Stewart’s blog post “Interview: Photographer Explores Own Depression with Surreal Self-Portraits,” discusses the work of photographer Janelia Mould in her series Melancholy: A Girl Called Depression. Mould creates evocative self-portraits that have been modified by the removal of her head, and often certain limbs. She says that her goal was “to give a glimpse on how a person with depression might experience life, through creating a character that never feels fully complete.” Her work is obscure, and yet it shares an autobiographical account of her experience with depression. Her depression lies silent beneath the images, but the images as a whole depict a population struggling to challenge stigmas and the lost parts of themselves.
Both Wah and Mould implement artistic forms of self-expression within their work, creating autobiographies that are heavily textured and multi-faceted. They behave as emotional outlets through which the audience can attempt to better understand the experiences of the artist. Like poetry, painting, and dance, the artist remains silent, however, they are present within each line, brushstroke, and movement. By having these natural silences within autobiographical work, the reader and viewer can actually feel the emotion, instead of merely seeing it. This effectively grants power to those who may be lacking representation.
Works Cited
Carter, Rodney G.S. “Of Things Said and Unsaid: Power, Archival Silences, and Power in Silence.” Archivaria 61, 2006, pp. 215-33, http://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12541. Accessed 25 February 2017.
Wah, Fred. Diamond Grill: 10th Anniversary Ed. Edmonton: NeWest, 2006.
Stewart, Jessica. “Interview: Photographer Explores Own Depression with Surreal Self-Portraits.” My Modern Met, 10 March 2017, http://mymodernmet.com/janelia-mould-conceptual-photography-depression. Accessed 19 March 2017.