The Said Woman

In 1431, Joan of Arc’s first trial took place from February 21st to March 25th, initially in the Robing Room at the castle of Rouen, and subsequently in the chamber there which was used as her prison. Perhaps the most significant person in the room, aside from Joan herself, was Guillaume Manchon, trial notary. He took the trial minutes, in French, and later translated them into Latin, writing out in his own hand three of the five known copies. Because of him, we have a presumably accurate, and incredibly detailed, record of what actually occurred during the trial: what the concerns of the judges were, what the balance of power in the room looked like, what was significant to both them and to Joan herself.

The Said Woman explores the trial document itself, the embedded and complex layerings of translation, transcription, and framing within the text, separate from the mythologies surrounding its subject.  2 versions of the project have been performed.  For the online version, a post was made with the text and audio for the date the trial originally occurred, sent to a group of 40 audience members, and removed on the date of the next posting.  The archive version was an installation of the archive text with live readings on each day on which the trial originally occurred.