Part 1 of a commissioned original poem for the ALL RISE project: a series of performances and temporary art installations organized for a city block at the location of Seattle City Light’s future Denny Substation in the Cascade neighborhood.  The poem "WHAT WAS HERE IS HERE" by Sierra Nelson, a both personal and public reflection on memory and language, was installed as a sound piece in six sections at the perimeter of the ALL RISE site. Part 1 of the poem features the Greyhound Bus building that was originally on this site on Seattle's Denny Way. 
Recorded with the assistance of sound artist and engineer Nat Evans. 
Full poem text: http://www.allriseseattle.org/sierranelson

WHAT WAS HERE IS HERE - Part I - Greyhound Maintenance Station

Part 2 of a commissioned original poem for the ALL RISE project: a series of performances and temporary art installations organized for a city block at the location of Seattle City Light’s future Denny Substation in the Cascade neighborhood. 
The poem "WHAT WAS HERE IS HERE" by Sierra Nelson, a both personal and public reflection on memory and language, was installed as a sound piece in six sections at the perimeter of the ALL RISE site. 
Recorded with the assistance of sound artist and engineer Nat Evans. 
Full poem text: http://www.allriseseattle.org/sierranelson

WHAT WAS HERE IS HERE - Part II - Denny Regrade

Commissioned original poem and recording for the ALL RISE project: a series of performances and temporary art installations organized for a city block at the location of Seattle City Light’s future Denny Substation in the Cascade neighborhood. The poem "What Was Here Is Here" by Sierra Nelson, a personal and public reflection on memory and language, was installed as a sound piece in six sections at the perimeter of the ALL RISE site. Part 1 of the poem features the Greyhound Bus building that was originally on this site on Seattle's Denny Way. This recording features Sierra's own voice as well as generous speakers of Russian, Greek, Swedish, Norwegian and Lushootseed. Recorded with the assistance of sound artist and engineer Nat Evans.

WHAT WAS HERE IS HERE - Poem Audio - All Tracks

Commissioned poem by Sierra Nelson for the ALL RISE project: a series of performances and temporary art installations organized for a city block at the location of Seattle City Light’s future Denny Substation in the Cascade neighborhood. Nelson’s poem "What Was Here Is Here,” a personal and public reflection on memory and language, was installed as a sound piece in six sections at the perimeter of the ALL RISE site. Audio recorded with the assistance of sound artist and engineer Nat Evans. 


This recording features Sierra's own voice as well as in Part IV generous speakers of Russian, Greek, Swedish, Norwegian and Lushootseed through community outreach by the All Rise Project. Information about the Lushootseed language comes in part from the language resources shared online by the Tulalip Tribes of Washington (https://tulaliplushootseed.com/songs/where_is_my_friend/ ) and quotes from the article “The Language of the Land” (Seattle Met, 2010), specifically, Jill La Pointe: “Lushootseed also has ‘no simple goodbye,’ says La Pointe. ‘We use different greetings.’ Her favorite: “tixˇixˇdubut, dəč’uʔ kʷi adxˇəč. Take care of yourself, make yourself single-minded to avoid confusion;” and Zalmai Zahir: “But if you ask an elder where our language came from, they’ll tell you it came from the earth, from the animals. People asked the frog, ’What’s your name?’ The frog answered wáq’waq’, and that was its name.' The crow became k’aʔk’aʔ, the seagull kiyúuqʷs.”

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