The Sound of Roots

Royal Central School of Speech and Drama June 2023

Photographed by Patrick Baldwin

As part of my Masters of Fine Arts at RCSSD, I created an installation inspired by Clootie Wells and spaces of folklore in Scottish nature. Passed down oral folklore and superstition shape our understanding and connection to the environment and wildlife spaces and our place within it. Using ecoscenography and my plants as collaborators, I took sounds from the Highlands where I grow up and connected the sounds to individual leaves. Only by touching the leaf and creating a shared electrical charge would trigger the sound. Audience members could then leave a piece of their own folklore for future audiences to find.