People of the South", 2022
Polyphonic sound work and text
"People of the South", 2024
text-based work printed on transparent paper
Dimensions: each 50 x 32 cm
Duration: 19 min 59 sec
Music / drums / keyboards / sound editing: V Franck-Lee Alli-Tis
Vocals / performative reading: Oyto Arognos, Christina Karagianni, V Franck-Lee Alli-Tis (Komminuτέρας music gang)
Text/ text-based work: V Franck-Lee Alli-Tis
Proof reading: Maria Petrides
In 2024, "People of the South" is expanded by a text-based work under the same title created for the exhibition "The Poem Returns as an Echo Dialogues with Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (1951 – 1982)" which took place at ISET, Contemporary Greek Art Institute annex of the National Gallery Athens in June/July 2024.

"People of the South" explores the conditions of joy, loss, vulnerability, global warming and the bodily aspects of language. It shows rituals of pleasure and intimacy during the nocturnal encounters that Das Kollektiv der Liebenden (The Collective of Lovers) enacts once they are able to open their mouths as soon as it gets dark. The work uses the dynamics and relationality of the voice along with paralinguistic elements to shed light on the material and bodily aspects of speech production.

The narration goes like this:The sun's rays, when in contact with saliva, force a chemical compound in the body that causes even the last drop of bodily fluid to leak out abruptly and fatally. A group of friends and lovers flees from the south to the northernmost point of Iceland where sunshine is rare. During the day, in the months when the sun is shining, they live in the belly of a caring whale. At night they come out and only then can they open their mouths. They delight in nocturnal encounters.They carefully listen to the sounds of the whales, the water and the air, forging a language that speaks sounds they can make with their mouths closed. As soon as it gets dark, they come out and stage a farewell feast. They come out while the joy of opening their mouths sets in. They dance with the shadows of unheard words.

„People of the South” is a narration about voice, affinity, kinship, care, collective grief and joy.

The sound work with the title „People of the South” was created as part of the installation with the title “Das Kollektiv der Liebenden” which was conceived by Franck-Lee Alli-Tis aka V Stylianidou for the exhibition "From the shore to the mud pool" which took place at Verksmi∂jan, Hjalteyri, Iceland in 2022.
For more information about the installation “Das Kollektiv der Liebenden” click here