Farah Mulla is a multi media artist based in Goa. Having studied geology at university, Farah became interested in the relationship between science and sound, not seeing them as different from one another. Using her background in science, Farah investigates the effects of sound on the psyche.

“From birth to death we are always immersed in sound”

Whilst studying at Cambridge, Farah began recording herself, and listening back to these recordings. These came to cultivate her installation piece, “Oral Mirror”.
“Oral Mirror” was situated in the space of a dark room, playing sounds on a loop until the overall sound becomes a drone. Simultaneously, Farah has started to develop tumours on her face, which I interpreted to be a factor in pushing her engagement with research around sound healing.

Whilst in the Himalayas, Farah built an installation in the mountains featuring a plethora of plastic water bottles which creates a large dome (pictured above). The bottles were intentionallt tuned, so that sonic feedback was created, which depended on the wind. This installation was therefore also a performance of chance, with the sound being produced inestimatable. Farah’s intentions behind the piece was to raise awareness around waste, making this piece an environmental statement or a piece that is situated in ecology, again linking her work back to science.

Whilst in the Himalayan mountains, Farah also became immersed in research surrounding sound baths and sound therapy. There are claims to be made about sound baths, such as that they “can cure cancer”- but this is a statement that stands with no quantative proof. Practices in sound therapy are based around the idea that every organ in the human body vibrates at a different frequency, and that disease is stemmed from our organs becoming out of tune with the frequency it is meant to vibrate at. Farah’s research surrounding these ideas led her to create a short film due to the involvement of a film director working with ASMR.

It is interesting to see how Farah’s practice as both a scientist and a sound artist allows for her interests to feed into her art, and her art to feed into her interests.

Whilst Farah has created many beautiful art installations, she became disengaged with art due to her comfortablity of gaining “results” or “finding” within her scientific background. She figured out a way to use sound and science together for the benefit of people with disabilities. Working with the concept of neauroplasticity, Mulla refurbished circuits from her installations to create materials to help develop disabled people’s, particuarly children’s, cognitivie abilities. Within this, Farah uses her work with frequencies of sound emulating touch. Farah now works in accessibility within the arts, working with organisations to alter modes of therapy.

How can I insoproprate or reinterpret Farah’s work within my own?

Like Farah, I am interested in creating installations, so I was very drawn to her dome of bottles in the Himalayas. However, what drew me more into the concept was the idea of chance that has been incorporated, rather than the ecological reasoning for the artwork.

Aside from the creation of art and installations, I am very interested in looking further into the research Farah took part in involving the sound baths.

The use of gongs historically have been of music and therapy in the East of the world. The same thinkinng behind the therapuetic use of gongs and sound has been adapted to provide cancer threatments, in high-intensity focused ultrasound (Caner Wellness, 2023). Whilst this form of treatment is not exactly the same as music therapy for healing, it is clear that sound waves are “capable of rapidly and efficiently separating circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood” (Cancer Wellness, 2023).

Whilst gongs may not be scientifically proven to cure cancer, they are shown to be a tool of relief and mental therapy, providing “a sense of peace and calming and release” (Cancer Wellness, 2023 for cancer patients. And if this form of therapy can be beneficial to canceer patients, it is definitely benefical to all people.

I am lucky enough to have been gifted a bonang by my brother in law, an Indonesian instrument used as part of the Gamelan. The bonang is a group of gongs, all tuned at different pitches.

I am going to make it my aim to learn and understand the cultural and historical significance of the bonang, and later adopt it as a tool in my sound practice. How that will transpire, I am not sure yet, but I am excited to see where this journey goes.