GARDEN OF LOST AND FOUND | 2021
Garden of Lost & Found is a soundscape commissioned by artist Diane Shillito for her exhibition, Garden of Lost & Found which opened in September 2021 at The Left Bank, Leeds. Garden of Lost and Found is an invitation towards a different way of seeing. It illuminates the garden environment; one we see every day and sometimes take for granted. It invites you to pause your thoughts and contemplate nature’s transitional decay, our own short lives on this planet and the divine beauty that lies within. In this exhibition, photography has been used as a medium to capture the change in organic matter and poetry is used to express deep levels of emotion. The installation is centred around a green house, surrounded by delicate fabric banners emulating ‘prayer flags'. My soundscape for this exhibition was a sensitive response to Diane’s work. It includes piano, field recordings, foley and ambient sounds fused together to take the listener through a sonic journey around a garden over months of time in contemplation. Listen here…
Dawn Chorus | 2019 - 2020
Dawn Chorus is a field recording soundtrack recorded in the woodlands and grounds of Beningbrough Hall, North Yorkshire. It is a commissioned piece for The National Trust which was played throughout the season for all visitors to Beningbrough Hall. It was recorded at 5am one Summer morning before people awoke yet whilst the birds were communicating with each other. The village and grounds were quiet and calm and the recordings were made in different parts of the estate.
Sounds of Winter | 2018 - 2019
The Sounds of Winter is a commission from The National Trust at Beningbrough Hall for their winter exhibition 2018-2019.
It is a series of six 2 channel sound installations in the grounds and gardens of the Hall.
Sounds of Sorrow | American Garden -an evocative reference to the time during WW2 when American and Canadian RAF pilots where stationed at the house near the Linton on Ouse airbase. Using archive material from historical letters and communication from civilian family members to RAF personnel the sound installation remembers lives lost through war using music recorded by Pro Cantione Antiqua (John Bennett’s Weep O Mine Eyes) and with the voice over by Will Norman.
Sounds of Labour | Laundry Room - an ode to effot, work and diligence through the poetry of Khalil Gibran. Referencing text from his well known work The Prophet, the spoken word is delicately recorded by Nicola Lee and is edited together with sounds of hand washing tools used during the era.
Sounds of Known & Unknown Worlds | The Potting Shed - taking inspiration from the words of Edward Thomas’s poem Digging and the diary entries of Gertrude Jekyll, this sound installation evokes memories of working the land which rich vocal recordings from both Will Norman and Nicola Lee. Alongside this spoken word there are environmental sounds of nature recorded using contact and hydrophonic microphones.
Sounds of Connection | The Glasshouse - inspired by Khalil GIbran and linking to his words recorded in the Laundry Room, this sound installation evokes a voice of the natural world through the words spoken directly from plants. The poem referenced is ‘Song of the Flower’. The evocation here is light and life giving using both the harp and piano as joyful melodic accompliments to the words spoken.
Sounds of Reflection | The Bothy - fused with images taken from the National Trust archives this is a sensory sound installation using environmental sounds to follow a sonic journey through the changing seasons.
Sounds of NIght | Nocturne | The Loggia - a sound installation tracing the sounds of owls in flight & of calling alongside a recording of the Leeds Cantabile Choir singing Thomas Vautor’s Sweet Suffolk Owl.
Traces | 2018
Traces is a collaborative piece between dance artists Maria Popova and Stephanie Donohoe. I created a 7 minute soundtrack for a dance/drawing performance which was performed in July 2018 in Leeds, UK.
Traces forms a reflective piece encompassing the notion of renewal and repair seen through the lens of the Japanese art of Kintsugi wherein broken elements are fused together to recreate and highlight the repairs made. Traditionally used in ceramics the notion of Kintsugi was applied to the performative work, wherein lines of sea salt where drawn onto the floor and moved around as part of a meditative reflective cycle of change, repair and renewal.
The soundtrack to this was composed using specific notes tuned in a glass harp (water filled in wine glasses and played).
Listen here.
nightwatch |2017
This is a two channel sound installation for the (RE((SOUND) exhibition at Leeds Arts University in 2017. This sound installation reflects the twilight hours and explores themes of relationship, survival and nurture and the auditory connections we make with one another. It uses micro sounds, breath allows for a level of sonic intimacy. The sound piece was installed in a small sound booth to add to the essence of intimacy in the recording.
Listen here.