Jazz Money, This is how we love, 2023-2024, 12-channel sound; stereo, various durations, TCG23010
(photo: The Commercial)

performed by members of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir, composed by Joe Twist, words by Jazz Money

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body

For Jazz Money, the collective expression of voice is a potent reminder of what makes us human: ‘I don’t think anything is as powerful as when voices come together in song, protest, or laughter. I think this is how we make the world whole, and this is how we love.’

In 2022, the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir invited Jazz Money to write an ‘anthem’ for LGBTQI+ choirs. ‘This is how we love’, (2022), was conceived as a poem, and subsequently arranged into a choral work by composer Joseph Twist and performed by a mass choir at the Sydney Town Hall. In conceiving the lyrics for a work about queer love, Money placed the emphasis on friendship and community rather than on romantic love. The poem sought to recognize networks of care, platonic love and community agency in the ways in which love can be shown and received.

For Inner Sanctum, Money again works with members of the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Choir to transform the poem and vocal arrangement into a multichannel sound installation, using pendant speakers to create a chorus of undulating voices. Money records singers separately, emphasising personal contributions by means of individual speakers, while collective interaction is achieved through their clustering — their community of shared breath.