I first encountered Lee Marie Sadek’s project ​‘I‑Noise’ during a portfolio review session. As Lee-Marie placed the images down on the table in front of me, I made a snap judgement and thought ​“I’m not going to like this work.” I was so wrong.

Sadek’s project explores a period in his life when he developed an obsessive fear of noise. It began with regular, annoying disruptions from his noisy upstairs neighbors. However, as Sadek developed severe insomnia, he became fixated on finding silence, and agitated by anything that could create sound.

It’s difficult to make projects about deeply personal and troubling times accessible to outside eyes. It is especially difficult to imbue this type of work with a sense of humor. However, Sadek does both. In fact, it is his quirky wryness that draws me in. As you look through Sadek’s images, you begin to see the world through his eyes. He saw evidence of noise in everything, and eventually, as I look at his work, so do I. In his world, a particularly tall pine tree begins to look suspiciously like a sound wave sprouting from the ground. He photographs the legs of his bed with tiny inflatable pillows under them. He photographs his own feet on the same pillows, making me wonder if he shuffled through his apartment that way.

Although I already had an interest in this project, I have found a new fascination with it under the current circumstances. Like many others, I am holed up in my apartment, attempting to practice social distancing in the face of the Covid-19 outbreak. My small living space has become my world, and I am hyper aware of the goings-ons within it in a way that I wasn’t before. Sometimes I make small, lovely discoveries- yesterday afternoon, for the first time, I noticed a beautiful shadow that is cast daily in the corner of my bedroom.

I also have become overly obsessive with little things though; like the health of my house plants. The sight of one slightly limp leaf sends me into full-out triage mode. I hear every sound that my husband makes in the next room, and try not to begrudge the fact that I find the manner in which he types distracting. In a strange way, it doesn’t just feel like just a dwelling anymore. Somehow, the activities in my physical surroundings feel like an extension of my mental state.

I’m not trying to suggest that my time comfortably stuck indoors is in any way the same as what Sadek experienced. However, it does help me imagine how his obsession with sound rooted itself- how it filled his mind and permeated his life. He heard it, felt it, saw it and tasted it. Sadek’s images are a slow and careful cataloging of this process.

Sadek’s artist statement for ​‘I‑Noise’ ends with the closing remarks that makes me smile: ​“My thanks and gratitude to the Rahmani family for giving me all the troubles that helped to create this work.”

- Mia

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