Young people from St. Scholastica’s Primary School have collaborated with artist Larry Achiampong to research and create artwork inspired by music that is shared and part of their culture, as part of the One & Other project.
Participants explored which countries are represented in Hackney and the kinds of sounds, music and texts that reflect these diverse identities. The project started with a question posed by artist Achiampong – how do you hear culture?
Initially, participants researched the countries represented amongst the group looking at personal histories, important figures from these cultures, and why and how people migrate to other countries.
Participants then grouped together based on physical attributes relating to the countries from where their heritage stemmed. Through their individual experiences they compared and contrasted commonalities and differences. In small musical groups they then created and recorded sound pieces. Some noted the weather as being hot, others the similarities in music styles.
Following a visit to a photographic studio where they took self-portraits, these were made into a film which was scored by the song compositions using digital music software.
The results of their collaborative research and imaginations will be on show in the One and Other exhibition at Rivington Place from 22 April – 1 May 2010.
St. Scholastica’s Primary School is one of four schools participating in the One & Other project funded by A New Direction as part of Creative Partnerships. The project took place from January to April 2010.