Event Description
Typha is the scientific name for cattails. Derived from the Greek, Typha in word and myth is associated with Typhon, serpent-dragon and ancient father of all monstrous beings. Typha is bound to Typhon: steeped in life's origins, dwelling at the edge of the underworld, Typha's deep affinity with Typhon gives Typha the power to calm the storm and placate the deep. Typha soothes, calms, heals. Typha's practice in place is phytoremediation: the transformation of toxicity and precarity into sustenance and stability. A plant literally capable of dealing with heavy metals.
Most sounds produced by the duo TYΦA begin with hand-woven cattail cordage, plucked and bowed. Sonic Geographer LJ Cameron began experimenting with cattail fibres from nearby marshes of Ontario in 2023, and discovered their tensile strength as musical strings, made audible with contact microphones. Together with longtime collaborator, sound artist MR Rogalsky, the pair are an improvisational duo with live electronic processing and responsive video, evoking a murky, rustly environment shot through with flashes of brilliance, like red-winged blackbirds seen through the marsh. In 2024, TYΦA presented a video and sound performance Cattail Song, as part of the Refugia Festival on Gabriola Island, BC and as part of Sophie Edwards' Listening to Rivers workshop in Kingston in March 2025. TYΦA also recently created a ten minute sound piece for the 2026 project Flow curated by the sound art org Cities and Memory, focusing on histories and sounds of the River Lech, which flows through Austria and Germany.
In-Person Event
Sat. May 16th + Add to Calendar
Private Residence
5:00pm
$15
