Shapes of Water, Sounds of Hope
Shapes of Water, Sounds of Hope
A historic project for the Pendle area, working with internationally renowned artist Suzanna Lacy from the USA. The project was commissioned by Super Slow Way and was delivered in a multi organisation effort with In-Situ, Building Bridges Pendle and Brierfield Action in the Community.
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The project revolved around Northlight which was previously the Brierfield Mill. A historic building that connected many hundreds of people and families throughout its years of operation. Suzanne Lacy’s vision was to explore the Mill and its people’s cultural and spiritual backgrounds.
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The project engaged with hundreds of people over its course through individual interviews and big community conversations, sharing experiences of the mill and life in the surrounding area. Brierfield Town Hall had a fantastic project resource room that charts the histories of the area and its communities and tells the story of the project through films and books.
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The final aspect of the project was five hundred strong community banquet which brought together the many people involved in the project throughout its course. Celebrating the different cultures, languages and food that were connected to the Mill and the Area. The legacy of the project is that its impact is still being felt today particularly in the working practices of the several community organisations that were involved in its delivery.
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Highlights
is a beautiful film made over three days in September 2016, when our community came together to make a film in the huge empty spaces of Brierfield Mill where many used to work. Using the two traditions of Shape Note singing and Sufi chanting, the installation also includes hundreds of filmed interviews with residents about the past, present and future following the closure of the mill. It will be accompanied by presentations of Shape Note, Dhikr, Nasheed and mill ballads. The film has received an international audience through being shown in The Biennale of Sydney, Australia, 2018
