Extract from BluePrint sound installation "In at Midnight and Away by Morning: The Uninvited Guest"

This audio piece is a 3 minute extract of the sound installation "In at Midnight and Away by Morning: The Uninvited Guest" (17 minutes in total) co-created by artist Sara Walmsley and the participants of the BluePrint project. This poetic reflection, which includes sonification of historic and predicted rainfall data*, draws on the lived experience of two communities who, in having to deal with the realities of flooding, are already learning to live with the impacts of climate change. 

 Developed over 8 months (March to October 2024) of collaborative creative workshops and individual ethnographic interviews, this piece weaves together the voices and sounds that tell the stories of two devastating flood events that affected the people and places of Eglinton and Newtownstewart in 2017 and 2022.  

Within this extract of the sound installation you will hear the melodic, polyphonic harmonies of St. Eugene’s Church choir as they give music to the words of members of their community whose homes were destroyed and lives endangered by flood water. A play, performed by the Visible, Invisible and Self, takes us on a narrative journey through a community which saw their joyful totems of leisure and togetherness tumbled and sodden by a beloved natural element turned wild. A poem, written and performed by those who witnessed the rolling in of a sudden and unexpected storm, represents the voices of the key actors in a devastating event - the flooding victims, the community responders, and the river itself. Finally, we hear throughout the voices of those striving to adapt to our changing climate, those who are responding to the urgency by finding solace, hope, strength and courage in the unending and unsurprising resilience and creativity of our communities.

Listeners are invited to remember that as they sit and experience this sound piece, that this is not a piece of art born from an imagined, dystopian future. The events described and represented all happened to real people and real places. As our climate changes at a rapidly accelerating rate, the island of Ireland is particularly vulnerable to an increased frequency of devastating flood events. While this project and this piece of art have aimed to highlight and celebrate the shining threads of hope, inspiration and creativity our communities have shown in meeting the challenges posed by climate change, a note of alarm and urgency has also been sounded. And so, we invite you not just to listen, but to act and demand change that will protect our climate into the future. 

*Featuring the sonification of monthly average rainfall observation data (1836 – 1924) for County Derry-Londonderry and County Tryone accessed via UK Met Office, and for Derry City and Strabane District and Ireland, monthly average rainfall observations (1976- 2005) and projections (2021 – 2100) for the high emission (RCP 8.5) climate scenario accessed via Met Eireann/ Translate project.

The BluePrint project is led by the MaREI Centre, University College Cork, with partners the Playhouse, Derry City and Strabane District Council, and Mayo County Council. The BluePrint project is a recipient of the Creative Climate Action fund, an initiative from the Creative Ireland Programme. It is funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications. 

Find out more: https://www.marei.ie/project/blueprint/