On Sunday, April 26 at 4pm, Topical Cream and Earth Gallery in New York hosted D I O R A M A S, a live one-hour meditative voicework by Sahra Motalebi. Hosted on the artist’s birthday, and curated by Lyndsy Welgos, Topical Cream’s Executive Director, D I O R A M A S invited viewers into a sonic environment, an immersive space where voice, stillness, and the collective unconscious became critical tools for collective imagination and emotional attunement. 

Previously described as “meditative soundspaces for collective, relational imagination,” Motalebi’s inaugural live D I O R A M A S guided viewers into a mode of collective deep listening with sustained controlled vocalization and subtle shifts in movement and positioning. In the gallery space, Motalebi created an atmosphere that encouraged inward reflection while emphasizing the communal nature of perception and presence. 

Sahra Motalebi’s multidisciplinary practice spans music, performance, writing, and education. Alongside her work as an artist, she has studied and practiced nondual meditation for over twenty years and currently works as a community-based psychotherapist in Upstate New York. These unique combined experiences deeply inform the artist’s approach to sound and voice. In this way, D I O R A M A S proposed another kind of art in an invitation to listen more closely to ourselves, to one another, and to the worlds we may yet create collectively or unconsciously. 

This voicework is for artistic and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice or psychotherapy.

Special Thanks to: Julia Burlingham, Christopher Kunderlera, and Corina Dewald.
Photographer by David Zavala