These sounds float through and mark space, time and the body which sleeps and speaks. sleeper/trace begins with the repetition of a question, "do you speak English?" and ends with a recitation of  the English alphabet vowels while ambient sounds of breathing and birdsong fill the space between. The birds mark their territory through their song. You might wonder about the circumstances in which the question is asked and the environments in which the vowels are emphatically sounded and echoed. This echo is an insistent reminder of the learned rules of language which dominate an understanding of a place and the manner in which it is mapped. Through our language, as the means of naming and mapping, we claim ownership. Imagine first contact, if indeed those soldiers, convicts or settlers stopped to ask questions, the asking of this question to Indigenous inhabitants while a bird sounds and the land beneath their feet breathes or sleeps. The language one speaks becomes a means of establishing identity, commonality and difference. That is one of many possibilities. Throughout history, this question has been asked to ascertain where people, as tourists or migrants, are from, whether they are indeed from this place and whether they will fit in. Unfortunately, its sounding can sometimes be threatening and sinister because bigotry has a history too. 
Barber has been canny locating the work inthe Pagoda, one of the few sites in Brisbane dedicated to enduring peace, tolerance and goodwill.