Ophelia Collective

Ophelia was created by Ciara Talisa Pillay, Raphaela Cocotos and Tristan Baia in September of 2019 as a response to overwhelming levels of gender-based violence and the protests that emerged as a result. The audio for the piece makes use of sounds sourced from protests at the time and underwater vocalisations in order to create a wailing, haunting lamentation, with a sonic incursion (created by converting photographic images from the protests into sound) repeating every 24 seconds – marking the rate at which women in South Africa are abused. Lastly, the title is a direct reference to the death of Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, emphasizing the romanticisation and glorification of women’s death and trauma in a patriarchal society – and how women are seen as passive objects - even in death.