Film_Poem Images On Rocks

Film-Poem: Imagens Em Rochas / Images On Rocks

 

Between 2021 and 2024 I undertook an ecological artist residency in the Côa Valley, in eastern Portugal - a collaboration with archaeologist/ethnographer Bárbara Carvalho and also the musician Jesse D. Vernon. Much of our creative fieldwork and community involvement was carried out in the zone of the valley close to the Faia Brava nature reserve, which is the location of the Lapas Cabreiras site, known for its impressive collection of prehistoric ‘Schematic’ painted rock-art motifs.

Coa Valley Ecological Art part2

Greater Côa Valley residency - Wild Côa Symphony

Creative Team: ecological artist Antony Lyons, archaeologist Bárbara Carvalho and musician Jesse D. Vernon.

Music and sonic walk in Vale Carapito

 

Situated in an an ecological regeneration area, the aim of our collaborative working is to establish a space – real and metaphorical – for the co-creation of a video-sonic ‘portrait’ with which people can genuinely feel an emotional relationship, and which can continue to evolve over time.

The Hills Are Alive

The Hills Are Alive...

[Adapted from published catalogue text] In Autumn 2020, invited by Artefact Projects in Stirchley, Birmingham, I set out to weave together field recordings (video and sonic) from two places - the Elan Valley in Wales and River Rea trail that passes through Stirchley.

Foraging on the shingle shore

Orford Ness artist residency. First of a series of blogs revisiting findings and reflections from the Sensitive Chaos project, 2019.

Prompted by some recent requests and discussions, I have assembled imagery and notes from parts of the Sensitive Chaos installation trail. Unlike the project's video-sonic works (NebulousNess and Blue Danube Redux) and the photographic series (Lethality & Vulnerability), the elements featured here have not been documented elsewhere. More broadly, I was asked by a cultural heritage researcher to reflect on the artist residency and the ways in which I interacted with the specifics of the site (a former military testing area), the controversial strategies of heritage management (by the National Trust and others) and the legacy of a long pattern of artist involvements with this unique place. Some of these general reflections are included here.

The image above was taken at one of the observation windows on the top floor of an all-timber, eight-sided building called the 'Black Beacon'.

Long Exposure

Some early writing from an artist residency with Elan Links, in the Elan Valley, Wales. This upland landscape is dominated by a cluster of reservoirs - some over 100 years old - built to supply water to the city of Birmingham, in the midlands of England.

The first opportunity to share work emerging from this residency has been provided by the 'Ten Acres of Sound' festival organised by the Artefact co-operative in Stirchley, Birmingham.

This is an entirely appropriate setting, as the purpose of the creation of the Elan Valley reservoir/dam/pipeline system in the early 1900s was to supply water to the rapidly growing city of Birmingham. Fittingly, my installation is hosted by the Birmingham Brewing Company, emphasising this watery connection and dependency. Under the title 'Also listening with my eyes', there is a programme of six short 'video-sonic poems' on-show. These are works-in-progress from the Elan artist residency. Below I have extracted text and images from the exhibition: