Every Voice Withdrawn

Nina organised signatures. Rowan encrypted working files. Celia returned every object with a receipt and an apology. The opening exhibition shrank to empty cases and legal notices.

Farah called the action self-sabotage.

"You will have nothing to show."

"Nothing is more honest than stolen voices."

Celia ended the call before the sentence could become a slogan she admired.

Edith arrived wearing the red costume beneath an ordinary coat.

"You can show me live," she said. "No recording. No ownership after the moment."

At seventy, with an arthritic knee and no interest in symbolic fragility, she had rehearsed a four-minute dance.

The performance gave them an opening night.

Then Nina switched on the stage lights. The main board sparked, the screen went black and smoke curled from the wall.