“Awesome, moving, disturbing, an incredible artistic work which brings to life what man has done to man. I was struck by the timing of the speaking and the sadness in the way people breathed, so emotional.”
- Kathleen Warren

UNSEEN

2020

Burchfield Penney Art Center
8 Channel Audio Track, 30min 34sec
Dirt and wood

UNSEEN is a multimedia art installation that examines the mutilation of our environment and, in turn, ourselves. This installation is deeply personal for me. My brother Joe was diagnosed with multiple myeloma when he was just 41 years old. Myeloma is a blood cancer that eats away at your bones. Joe lives on a block in Niagara Falls that sits at the edge of Love Canal in a neighborhood with house after house of families dealing with life-threatening cancers and diseases. More than 40 years after toxic waste from Love Canal destroyed this neighborhood, people from the Niagara region continue to suffer from the chemicals of Niagara's continued industrial legacy.

For this installation, I interviewed 18 residents from many different contaminated areas of Niagara County. I filled the project space at the Burchfield Penney Art Center with a soundscape of their interwoven voices and dark personal stories. These voices are the heart of UNSEEN.

UNSEEN is a spoken-word symphony that brings into focus the sights and smells that people experienced while living on this toxic land as they share the physical and emotional burden of their environment. Each voice describes how they have been affected by toxins inside their own homes. The stories, which span decades to the present day, reveal a haunting similarity in their experiences: the degradation of the relationship they have with their home and their surrounding environment.

In the middle of this vast, dimly lit space in the museum, a typical 1920s bungalow house is brought into focus by a glow of light. Upon close inspection, you will notice the house is made entirely of soil. This house is a home. It's the place where people live out their lives - eat, play, talk, watch TV and garden -- it's the one place where people should feel safe and in control. It's also an investment and a prison. It's the thing you least expect to be poisoning your family.

With UNSEEN, I will take you behind the beauty of what the world sees when they think of Niagara Falls and into the stories of those who live in the shadow of this region's interminable industrial history.

I created this short film in the early days of making UNSEEN, It features my brother Joe’s voice. This is why I created UNSEEN.

The soundscape is the heart of UNSEEN.

Check out a few clips below of some different sections of the audio. The entire soundscape is on an approximately 30min loop and is on 8 channels within the installation space. Though you won’t get the identical experience here you will still be able to feel the emotionally stories that each of these people so generously shared.

UNSEEN installation, Burchfield Penney Art Center, 2020

Photo: Chantal Calato

“There is a rhythm that keeps me listening - sometimes with horror, disbelief, sadness - but never losing engagement with voices I feel I begin to recognize.”

- Cathy Norgren

Detail of UNSEEN installation, Burchfield Penney Art Center, 2020

“UNSEEN is a sensory, auditory and emotional masterpiece. It is the most visceral work of art I have seen in my life, and I lived in Paris France for decades. The pairing of the physical representation of the house and the spoken words of the Unseen Voices take you to the epicenter of the environmental tragedy that is affecting the lives of the people in this area each and every day.”
— Jennifer Kite-Powell, Senior tech contributor, Forbes, author and poet

My environmental work and "UNSEEN" are featured in author Laura Marris' book "The Age of Loneliness", published in 2024 by Greywolf Press.

In the studio charting the 20 plus hours of UNSEEN interviews. Mapping out overlapping themes that ended up driving the 30min design of the audio arc.

UNSEEN is the first time I used audio in a work.

UNSEEN took four years to create from the conception to install. Tons of research on Niagara's toxic legacy and present was catalogued during the process. This is the studio wall in the earlier research days.

“Very Powerful. I can only imagine how tough conducting the interviews must have been. If you are from Niagara Falls, you should know your history and definitely check this out.”
- Craig Altobello

Mario Passero during his interview for UNSEEN.

Thank you to all the UNSEEN Voices who shared your story

Nora Sturtevant Bouvier

Barb Calato

Joe Calato

Joseph Calato

Kim Carella

David Ellsworth

Carmen Hamilton

Nancy Duffy Hanover

Patrick A. Jensen

Luella Puccetti Kenny

Nancy Kulack

Cynthia Mikula

Betty O’Brien

Meaghann O’Brien

Kathleen Pagkos

Mario Passero

Michael Zimmerman

Ursula Zimmerman

Detail inside the UNSEEN sculpture.

UNSEEN is funded by the Global Warming Art Project grant Ben Perrone and the ‘Environment Maze’ project donors; administered by Arts Services Initiative of WNY.

Jennifer Kite-Powell - Publicist

Brett Masteller Warren - Sonic Collaborator

Collaborators

Thank you to all who helped make UNSEEN possible. David Bachowski, Tom Burrows, Carol Calato, Jesse Calato, Christen Civiletto, Caitlin Crick, Jim Derschberger, Suzanne Diffine, Anthony DiMiglio, Spencer Harder, Jackie James-Creedon, Yuko Kudo, Cindy Abbot Letro, Rachel Adams Miller, Cathy Norgren, Ben Peronne, Scott Propeack, David Rook, Sherry Rook, Mike Willard and Tanis Winslow.