The first step in this project was to discuss (via the phone) dates that Lee could come to Stiwdio Maelor and the date I could go to London, what equipment we will need and some suggestions of the sort of recording we can do (both inside and outdoors) and how they can be developed. Between his many projects, Lee worked out that he could come to Wales for a week in May for our first working sessions. After a series of emails with equipment lists, thoughts and suggestions, I rang Lee to confirm his visit next week. His first words to me were ‘You are the first phone call on my new phone’, my response was ‘You are the first person I have rang on my new phone’. Turns out we had both brought new phones the afternoon before. It felt like an appropriate start for a sound project!
Though our first sound connection has been through a modern mode of communication, the project will actually be looking at endangered languages. My work focuses on endangered languages and language loss, and through art I want to create a form of awareness and insight to contribute to the questions and concerns surrounding the loss of language, culture and the loss of intellectual knowledge contained in those languages. I use two languages, an endangered one (Kurnai – an Aboriginal language) and a minority one (Welsh) to create a visual language through translating Kurnai into Welsh visually though printmaking and painting.
