the entire score for when stars become words… consisted of 12 drawings made with pencil, watercolor and collage on found musical notation paper. the images are based on maps of constellations from the southern hemisphere that include stars whose names were used to generate the sculptural forms.
to create the sound for the smaller cone shaped sculpture, scores were placed beneath the strings of an old zither, so that the constellation determined the strings to be plucked.
for the larger work, harmonica drones were recorded into pro-tools and the soundwaves were then organized on the screen visually to replicate the constellation form, leading to chance interactions between drones in terms of time lengths and pitch.