Com•mit•tal
2020
Spoken Word Album
Com•mit•tal is a spoken word album composed of recorded poems that confront bipolar disorder, psychiatric hospitalization, sexual assault, and relational trauma - bringing experiences typically held in silence into direct, spoken form.
The work functions as an act of release, using language to move what has been internalized into something external, audible, and shared.
The title Com•mit•tal refers to both institutionalization and burial, holding a dual meaning that reflects the tension within the work. Instead of burying these experiences, the album enacts a different form of committal: one in which emotions, memories, and trauma are brought into the open and allowed to exist outside the body.
Speaking becomes a way to stop carrying these experiences alone and to finally allow them to rest. Com•mit•tal marks a turning point where expression becomes a means of transforming what has been carried alone into something that can be lifted together.