Biodivergent Sites and Sounds
Click Here to enter and encounter the project
We are always told that encountering nature and preserving the environment is important. But what if you experience access barriers and being out in nature is much harder for you to do?
Biodivergent Sites and Sounds is a play on the word Neurodivergent, and Site (site specific) to also mirror site as encountered through technology. Bringing an immersive and accessible experience for audiences and the Harlesden community to encounter nature and the preservation of environment, enhancing the important work of Canal and River Trust and with other partners who nurture the artist’s voice, particularly when they are so often excluded. This project aims to lead by the Neurodivergent voice, encountering nature through prolific and colourful, magical, ritualistic and repetitive methods of making, layering, pattern-finding and autistic stimming.
Biodivergent Sites and Sounds shines light on the importance of preserving our waterways and landscapes via autistic female led activities. Elinor's paintings are responses to the local stories and sounds found around London's waterways. With creative technologist, Charles Matthews, they have digitalised part of London’s waterways into an online interactive site mapping soundscapes of Harlesden's Canalside. These digital trails will illustrate autoethnographic links with place, community, biodiversity and the natural world, culminating in Elinor's exhibition at Creative Health Camden featuring paintings that illustrate the scenographical sensory soundscapes that she has made in collaboration with other autistic musicians and pupils from Harlesden primary school to examine ‘autistic stimming’ as an act of power, self-expression and creativity.
This project is funded by Arts Council England, alongside partners Canal and River Trust, The Free Space project and in kind support from Cole’s Gallery.
Lead artist - Elinor Rowlands
Creative Technologist - Charles Matthews
Musicians - Jo-anne Cox, Dee Fry, and Rdyer
Art Publication printed and published by - Gemma Abbott (Unfamiliars)
Interim Project Manager - Lucie Bickerdike (Feb - June 2023)
Project Manager - Nick Lawford (July 2023 - January 2024)
Co-facilitator and Access Support for working with a local Harlesden Primary School and Young Brent Foundation - Gemma Abbott
Marketing and Communication access support - Lucie Bickerdike
Events and communication access support - Nick Lawford
The journey begins in Leeds, at Cole’s Gallery.
In a beautiful and peaceful gallery, located in the Corn Exchange, Leeds and run by Joss Cole, is where Biodivergent Sites and Sounds project starts. An exhibition, “Scatterings of Light” showing paintings by Elinor Rowlands, curated by Joss Cole, invites the Leeds community to encounter colour and light through journeying, an art process developed by lead artist, Elinor Rowlands. Here, she talks to Leeds audiences and beyond, via an artist talk and a neurodivergent led arts workshop through autistic stimming and journeying. Journeying is an artistic methodology developed by the artist Elinor Rowlands in Magical Women (a neurodivergent led arts project) workshops.
Journeying through autistic stimming in a Neurodivergent led workshop at Cole’s Gallery
In the most beautiful and calming setting that is Cole’s Gallery, we gathered with eight members from Leeds community to journey together through colour, texture, exploration and risk-taking to explore using art-materials through site and sound in new and transformative, nourishing and immersive ways. Facilitated by lead artist, Elinor Rowlands. Access Support by Lucie Bickerdike (interim project manager), hosted by Joss Cole of Cole’s Gallery.
Hand assembled, images printed on Fabriano paper, Art Publication
This is a hand assembled, 28 page, A5, full colour publication where images are printed on Fabriano paper. This art publication explores creative processes through texts and images by the artist, Elinor Rowlands, to explore where the light gets in. This publication introduces us to Biodivergent Sites and Sounds, that is led by a neurodivergent (autistic/ADHD) voice. If you would like to purchase this Art publication please click here.
Informing autistic led research
Autism research is rooted in behaviour or eradication. Autistic researchers are adamant in placing our voice in the research. Elinor Rowlands is examining how autistic stimming is an artistic methodology and is researching the conditions needed for it to take place and occur. This project will be informing her research, because autistic stimming is so much more than movement, it exists within autistic texts, autistic vocabulary, autistic language, autistic led composition and music-making, layering, pattern-finding, and ultimately autistic expression.
Photo shows an artwork created by artist Elinor Rowlands during the journeying workshop in Leeds. The colours are blue and red soft pastel scribbles. A neurodivergent participant (10 years old) splashed magenta inks over it and the whole piece is glistening.
Creating music differently, through a Synaesthesia lens
Local Harlesden primary school children will be able to participate in an autistic and ADHD led arts and music making workshop exploring the texture of sound found in our natural landscape and environment in and around Harlesden Canal. Their music created in the classroom through experimenting with found, gathered sounds and using instruments in explorative ways will contribute to the final soundscape.
The Journey Continues in Harlesden, London.
We moor up in Harlesden where we are partnered with the Canal and River Trust, here we facilitate workshops with primary school children, and encounter site and sounds through technology in collaboration with our Creative Technologist.
This is one example of where Charles has taken one of Elinor’s visual compositions and is assigning each element to different sounds and music so that when audiences engage with the different elements they can create their own sounds and compositions. A generous sharing will occur.
Mooring up with Neurodivergent Musicians
On the 21st and 25th April 2023, we will be composing and collaborating live music-making through journeying, an art-making technique developed by lead artist, Elinor Rowlands and in collaboration with her, the three musicians will collaborate musically live. Then musicians, Jo-anne Cox, Dee Fry and Rdyer will each work on their music-making composition contribution towards the final soundscape. The brief is on the Harlesden Canal, and the sounds to be discovered here.
Interacting with site and sounds through creative technology.
In collaboration with Creative Technologist, Charles Matthews, Elinor Rowlands is able to engage with her neurodivergent voice and music-making/art-making methods to create an interactive soundscape that can be engaged with people from diverse walks of life. Matthews is dedicated to reducing barriers to practice and to support a wider engagement with music practice, composition and music itself. Together their aim is to engage with the Harlesden community and beyond to enhance audiences’ engagement with nature through technology, shining an important light on the work of the Canal and River Trust.
Engaging with the technology
With the support of Canal and River Trust, Creative technologist Charles Matthews and lead artist Elinor Rowlands will be supporting young people through Young Brent Foundation to engage with the canalscape of Harlesden through music, sounds and technology. This will enhance accessibility and smash down barriers so young people from all backgrounds can encounter nature, environment and their local canal through music and technology. Young Brent Foundation works with over 200+ play and youth organisations and delivers focused support and activities that develops capacity, encouraging greater opportunities to connect, collaborate and succeed.
Attend a launch party to introduce the Harlesden community to this interactive project partnering with Canal and River Trust.
We moored up in Harlesden Canal, where we are partnered with the Canal and River Trust, here, the launch will see us engaging with the local community live on site. The exact location is yet to be determined but CRT have found a location right by Harlesden Canal and this might be where we can invite audiences to engage with the technology.
Creative Technologist, Charles Matthews, and lead artist Elinor Rowlands will also engage online with various invited participants to try out the technology before the launch party. There will be a link here soon if you are interested in participating!
Later in November, there will be a Q and A with Creative Technologist and lead artist of this project. This will be hosted by Lucie Bickerdike and Nick Lawford, project managers.
Responding to the project
Elinor will respond to the Harlesden Canalscape project through an art exhibition of new works that are directly in response to the soundscape created with the musicians and creative technologist. She will hold an in person artist talk to patients (with mental health difficulties) at Kentish Health Centre and talk about the process of art-making and engagement with the Canalscape project as someone who is also autistic and ADHD herself.
Facilitating Workshops and Artist Talk in Kentish Town with audiences with mental health difficulties
Sharing practice and making art with community and patients at Kentish Town Health Centre using the soundscapes developed through the Canalscape project and introducing patients to new ways of engaging with art materials through neurodivergent and synaesthete ways of making and practice. It is her hope to support wider and more diverse audiences and participants in her local community to engage with autistic/ADHD led practices offering them new ways in encountering nature, biodiversity and the preservation of our canals and wildlife, found in urban environments.
Audiences from across the world will be invited to encounter Harlesden Canal online through creative music technology and art-making.
If you have already participated in parts of our project and would like to sign our guestbook with your comments so far, we’d love to hear from you!
Simply fill in the form with your comments and describe what part of the project you have participated in. Please also let us know if we can publish your name or if you’d prefer to remain anonymous. Thanks so much!
To all our participants and audiences along the road/canal… we are so honoured to be working with you/have worked with you, we will be in touch soon with important dates and news about how you can access the Launch even if you don’t live in Harlesden, London, UK.
Please also let us know if you’d like to attend the pre-launch party online with the Creative Technologist and Lead Artist to test out the technology we shall be creating (when we have the dates confirmed we shall put a sign up sheet below - for the moment we ask for you to wait!)
