ART ON the Underground will present a new sound artwork by London-based artist Shenece Oretha from this week.
The work has been developed over a period of collaboration and community engagement, working with the Mayor of London’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme (CCSaR), New Beacon Books, Rumi’s Cave and The RecordShop.
Oretha is a multidisciplinary artist. Her practice is invested in the mobilising potential of sound enacted through her sound sculptures, multi-channel installations, poetry, workshops and print.
This new commission will be heard in London Underground spaces and in the communities near the stations through live performances, listening events and as an online audio.
The amplification of voices, accessible through this range of listening experiences, invites space for celebration and reflection.
The work, titled Route Words: Where are our voices aloud?, centres on Britain’s oldest Black bookshop and publisher, New Beacon Books, based in Finsbury Park.
The work draws on New Beacon’s publications’ catalogue, showcasing writing that speaks to the importance of space and language, to a range of communities, their histories and collective futures.
The sound piece weaves together extracts from the texts of Edna Brodber, Lorna Goodison, John la Rose and Dennis Mitchell to demonstrate the collective force of word and voice. The work seeks to mobilise and engage people through speaking to the cultural history of the collective voice within New Beacon Books legacy.
The artist’s relationship with New Beacon Books has been extended to conversations with social space Rumi’s Cave in Brent, which is inspired by the legacy of 13th Century poet Jalauddin Rumi, and recording studio The RecordShop in Wood Green, which works with young people.
The collaboration between these groups is a joint connection to spaces where words and voice are central to their community formation, purpose and ongoing work.
These spaces are actively supported by the CCSaR programme and have been invited to read from the score and contribute layers of story, poetry and sound to the work.
The range of contributors highlights the voice’s role in advocacy and the importance of exchange and mutual support across these spaces in London.
The contributing poets and musicians are Imruh Bakari, Margaret Busby, Greta Dapkute, Rakaya Fetuga, Sagal Gabay, Olivia Opara, Glaiza Padulla, Mary Otumahana aka WondRWomN, JAGO XYEN and Belinda Zhawi
The work will be shared through a poster campaign across the Tube network with a QR code allowing customers to listen to the audio and experience it on their journeys.
In addition to this listening experience Finsbury Park Underground station, closest to New Beacon Books, will host a series of special performances from the collaborating poets, writers and musicians.
These performances will allow travellers to experience the power of words and recitation to create a communal space.
This work marks a new strand of collaborative community engagement and art commissioning for Art on the Underground.
It is the start of a series of sound commissions developed through an engagement with the CCSaR programme and the communities around Underground stations to spotlight the work of organisations who face structural barriers to sustaining space in the capital and to create and share resonances from them across the city.
Eleanor Pinfield, Head of Art on the Underground, said: “We are delighted to launch this new artwork from Shenece Oretha, the first in a series of sound commissions unfolding in the Underground.
“The artist conceived of this project with Finsbury Park based New Beacon Books, the only remaining independent Black publishing and bookselling entity in the UK, using the publisher as a source of inspiration and a repository of words.
“Linking together with a number of community partners from the Mayor of London’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk programme, Oretha has created an audio work that puts the power of a collective community voice into the heart of the city.”
Justine Simons OBE, Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, said: “I am really excited about Art on the Underground’s latest commission by London-based artist Shenece Oretha and am delighted the Mayor’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk Programme has been able to support it.
“Celebrating Black literary culture in the capital, this piece will bring an insightful new experience to Londoners and visitors travelling on the network.
“It pays homage to the power of words with sounds and stories of local artists and businesses and continues the rich tradition of art and design on the Tube as we build a better city for all.”
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