Connecting Shores, an eight-part audio documentary series exploring young people of colour’s (18-30) relationship to the sea and coastal environments, will be aired on BBC Radio Devon and BBC Radio Cornwall at 8.35pm on Friday evenings, starting 24 May.
Commissioned and funded by Natural England, the series has been created by Exeter-born dual-heritage sound artist Somatic. The innovative project provides a platform for a set of voices often overlooked in marine spaces.
The project is part of Natural England’s Connecting People with Nature programme, which aims to tackle barriers of access to nature. It is hoped that the series will encourage more young people to engage with coastal areas, as well as to support and inform the marine sector to be more inclusive in their decision-making processes.
Recordings from interviews with eight young people of colour in Plymouth have been woven together into eight 15-minute episodes, each centred around a different theme. These have been underscored with a soundscape built from coastal field recordings and original sound design.
The audio documentary covers a range of themes, including shaping of identity, early coastal memories, cultural, heritage and water stories, using the coast as a space of health and well-being, the perceived future of coastal spaces, barriers to access, migration and how seashores ‘here’ connect us to the rest of the world.
Aria Nominated - Best Factual series 2023
LISTEN ON BBC SOUNDS AND ALL MAJOR STREAMING PLATFORMS
Sonic Landscapes of Colour is a Podcast-Documentary that tells the story of young (18-26) People of Colour (POC) who have grown up in The South West (Somerset, Devon & Cornwall).
Built out of nine interview recording sessions, this piece delves into how participants lived experiences have shaped their relationships to topics such as identity, school, community, culture, alienation, belonging, racism and connection to local natural landscape.
The voices are underscored by a soundscape built from four recording sessions with non-western traditional instrumentalists; all based in the South West and augmented by Somatic's own composition and Sound Design skills.
With thanks to my funders:
