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I first met Roy Kiyooka in 1968 when we were both involved in the Intermedia Society. Over the years I had the opportunity to collaborate with him on a number of art projects, the most notable being the B.C. Almanac(h) and 13 Cameras Vancouver. Then in the late seventies I taught along with Roy in the Fine Arts department of U.B.C. for four years.
Voice began in 1991. Roy had recently retired from U.B.C. and his thirty year teaching career. He was disillusioned with the art world, and visual art practice no longer had the same meaning in his life that it once had. He was primarily absorbed in his writing and his music. He had initiated a number of private and public occasions in which to read his work and perform music, and was excited at having found an interested audience within his community. He was looking for a new beginning and felt that he had found it in performance. Through these collaborations with friends, usually fellow artists, he continued to define his identity as an artist, pursuing what he referred to as his own particular voice.
I found myself drawn to the intensity of these occasions and I wanted to be involved. Although it was not in his nature to want me to do so, Roy indulged me by allowing me to record these aspects of this transitional phase in his life.
“Voice” was shot over the period of one year. I didn’t work with a script. The agenda was the preservation of the moment, which I felt to be precious and otherwise fleeting.
Michael de Courcy
September 1999