Good afternoon everyone,
I hope that you are well!
Today we have a guest blog for you. Hilary is a local artist who is working on creating some audio visual work - so you may see her around!
Over to Hilary:
Ring Cycle. A salvaged saga of place. Picture from Hiliary's Twitter
"Hello everyone!
"I am Hilary - an artist, and the recipient of this year’s Stephen Cripps’ studio award in Acme studios, at the Royal Opera House High House Production Park in Purfleet. I am here for a year making an audio visual work exploring and celebrating the local landscape featuring local wildlife and most particularly birds and I will be out and about on Rainham Marshes and hope to meet many of you. The film I am making is inspired by Wagner’s opera series, the Ring Cycle – its use of landscape ‘leitmotifs’ or signature tunes and the creation of a mythic elemental environment. A story of unregulated industrial capitalism is woven into a vision of the wild and industrial surrounding landscape punctuated by absurdist scenarios set in these locations (from thamesmaidens to scrap metal collecting valkyries and feral children/birds). "The soundtrack will be created from a combination of local recorded wild tracks, sound created in an evolving ‘foley’ (film sound effects) studio from local materials and, hopefully, the voices of the Thurrock Community Chorus ‘singing’ in the language of birds and wild places. Picture from http://ringcycle.site/
"The film is being constructed through a combination of constant filming of general and specific views and a series of organised film shoots between January and April. For this I am specifically looking:
"More generally I would also appreciate advice on and love to meet people who can help with: best places to film starling murmurations, lapwings rising into the sky, ravens roosting, seals, views of Canary Wharf and the Dartford crossing, have knowledge of bird calls, can help with recording bat sounds and wild tracks in the area. "Also, during the soundtrack creation in my foley studio at High House Production Park it would be great if some of you would like to be involved and join a team I am calling the ‘Boom and Bust Sinfonia’ ‘playing’ the materials and rehearsing and performing the soundtrack from May-July. "There is lots to do from collecting visions to materials and sounds.I post progress at the project website at www.ringcycle.site and my twitter www.twitter.com/HilarySPowell. "You can see some of my previous work at www.hilarypowell.com from work with the last miners of South Wales to London demolition site portraits and a recent film in the BBC White City site due for demolition." Picture from http://ringcycle.site/