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Above the Clouds
The Sisters Walk Poetry by Emily Jane Bell, Audio by Sarah Dew
00:00 / 18:08

The Sisters Walk

Poetry by Emily Jane Bell, Audio by Sarah Dew

 

Emily and Sarah collaborated together to create this audio poem from

2020 to 2021. Sarah used Emily's evocative and often challenging poetry to inspire a soundscape of melody, sound art and field recordings. Some of the recordings were made on Haworth moor. 

 

Emily Jane Bell explains:

‘The Sisters Walk’ is a poetic imagining of Emily Brontë's composition of Wuthering Heights, and of her relationship with her sister Anne Brontë. Emily and Anne wrote in collaboration on their intricately detailed, private fantasy world of Gondal, and their novels wrestle with many shared questions and themes. Ellen Nussey described them as being 'like twins - inseparable companions.' This piece explores their creative influence on each other, especially Anne's influence on Emily.


The poem is narrated by an imagined Emily Brontë, her voice blending with the voices of her characters over the course of the piece, blurring the boundaries between Catherine Earnshaw, Heathcliff and Emily herself. Extracts are included from Emily and Anne's 'Diary Papers' of 1834 and 1845, as well as from Anne's powerfully incisive preface to the second edition of her novel 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' in 1848. 


'The Sisters Walk' is about the act of writing and the necessity of writing for these two sisters. It's about creative influences and collaboration and solitude. It's about the fierce clarity of vision that each of these writers had, and their determination to speak their 'unpalatable truths,' as Anne put it.  

Birds of Heart and Sky came about through a love of birds. It is a radio ballad: a collection of emotive audio works, songs, compositions and field recordings celebrating a selection of birds currently on the Red List of most vulnerable birds in the UK. This audio installation was created to help raise awareness and promote more public support to help increase bird populations. It is a suite of songs illuminating puffins, turtle doves, curlews, skylarks and cuckoos; linked by sound art, field recordings and spoken word. It includes printed text to give further information on the birds, also enabling hearing impaired audience members to fully access the lyrics.

Music, lyrics and sounds are composed, recorded and produced by me,  Scarborough composer/songwriter Sarah Dew with recorded contributions from guest singers and other field recordists. 
The project is approved by the RSPB.


The project was installed at Hull University as part of ‘This Is Hull’ week.
In July, 2024, it received great acclaim when it was installed with dramatic and atmospheric lighting at St Mary’s Church, Scarborough as part of Scarborough Art.


 

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