Abstract
The purpose of The Art of Breaking is a collection of creative non-fiction essays that expresses identity fragmentation by deconstructing then reconstructing a 21st century woman’s experience in a post-pandemic world. I wanted to approach womanhood in a slightly multimedia fashion to demonstrate a multifaceted identity. I display this through literary vignettes, braided form, and spliced audio sound bites in an audio collage to introduce the project. Each vignette encapsulates moments, reminiscent of memory rather than narrative. The audio was obtained and spliced from a variety of interviews I conducted from women in my life who are present in the essays to illustrate voice complexity. This demonstrates the experience of womanhood as multifaceted and complex shaped rather than defined by a community.
In the future, this project could be one of many creative non-fiction experimental, multimedia stories that utilize sensory experience to express experience, voice complexity, narrative, and emotive impact.