The Unheard World 2017
“…we have no choice but to live with the pain’...”
Photo by Stephen Iliffe at Fabrica Gallery
For ‘The Unheard World’ Ruth challenged British-Syrian composer Waseem Kotoub to reimagine his piano piece ‘Stories of Syria’ as an ensemble piece (for flute, violin, viola, cello, oud and percussion). This new, five movement piece was then performed along with visual art, sign language, and live captioning in two very special performances.
This project explores the rich heritage and culture of the Middle East and the traditions that are present in music from that region. Furthermore, it explores the themes of war, displacement, and deaf cultural identity, and shines a light on the lived-experience of deaf migrants in the UK.
Performed to a sell-out audience at Brighton’s Fabrica, audiences witnessed Kotoub’s piece brought to life visually with creative-music BSL performance by Nadia Nadarajah as Rachel Gadsden created live action painting on canvass. Three original pieces by Sudanese textile artist Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings depicting and supported by Ruth’s interpretation of the music were displayed proudly in the accompanying gallery.
Audiovisability strive to push technological boundaries and throughout the performance they did just that – by thrilling audiences with key word captions to accompany the lyric-less piece. Designed to challenge, these key word captions included ‘we have no choice but to live with the pain’. Utilising Signly’s QR technology, visitors were able to scan a QR code on their phone and watch BSL interpretation of Omeima’s work in the gallery.
Read more - The Unheard World music, deafness and visual arts
The Unheard World is gratefully sponsored and supported by Arts Council England, The Arab British Centre, Sarah Pickthall Ltd, Decibels Charity, Sobell Foundation, Arlington Arts Centre, Fabrica Gallery Brighton and Signly app.
