'Each Pebble Its Part'
A note on the process
I made a number of walks between December 2007 and June 2008 to points along the course of the River Rawthey in south-east Cumbria, starting at its source high on Baugh Fell, following it past Sedbergh and ending in Middleton, just above its confluence with the Lune. on each walk I took photographs, made sound recordings and picked up a stone from the river bank – small stones near the river’s source and larger stones from near its end.
the installation lays out the stones in order - in Sedbergh, I could repeat on the gallery floor the shape of the river on the map - and each stone has its releated photographic image near it. the stones sit on pressure-sensitive pads, and when you step on a pad, an excerpt from the appropriate recording plays. a walk down the stones becomes a walk along the river.
click here to go to a page showing the fifteen images from the installation and containing details about buying prints of the images. click here to go to the 'sounds and recordings' page, where you can hear installation recordings and a studio mix of the sounds from the piece.
'Each Pebble Its Part' was commissioned by Ephemeral House, Sedbergh, and it was funded by the National Lottery through the Arts Council of England (click here to go to their web site) with support from Kent Valley Colour Printers, Drake Music Projects, the Sedbergh Dental Practice, Kirkby Lonsdale Motors and The Apple Orchard Juice Company.
Installation in Sedbergh
photo by Nela Geuer
the first installation of the piece was at Ephemeral House - an occasional art space in Sedbergh - on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 June 2008 and was part of the Sedbergh Music Festival.
excerpts from comments in the visitors' book include: "I came up from near Manchester to see your exhibition - worth every mile travelled. It is all quite magical ... there is always something quite scary about being in a house and hearing running water"; "Excellent, especially for Sedbergh. Well done"; and "A most enjoyable experience and stunning photographs with the mood set by the delightful reminiscent sounds of our streams."
Installation in Brighton
'Each Pebble Its Part' was selected by the Sonic Arts Network for inclusion in its 2008 EXPO Festival in Brighton and was shown on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July 2008.