Avon Stories

Standing under the M5 motorway bridge at Lamplighter's Marsh, Bristol, listening to the traffic. 5th August 2018.

Rain outside my window, 23:18, 11th August 2018 by A podcast and art project by Sarah Connolly

00:05, 10th August 2018

Friday night in Bristol - 1st June 2018

Sitting on my doorstep, listening to the spring rain in the dusk

One of the ways to explore a place is through its sounds - & in this episode, Dan Pope took me on a soundwalk along the River Avon to find out what we could hear.

We talked about what soundwalks are, Dan's work as an acoustic consultant, how soundscapes can be added to places, and what people can use to explore sounds in their area. There are some resources, a map and lots of links on my website:

https://avonstories.com/2018/04/26/podcast-23-soundwalking-dan-pope/

As you can guess, from the fact I make podcasts, I really love the medium, and one of the ones I enjoy is the Bristol History Podcast.

This has been created by Tom Brothwell, and he interviews different historians and authors to cover a wide range of different subjects that he's interested in, and wants to find out more about. We talked about why he started, his approaches to history, and lots more, including some of the history about the River Avon.

For links to Tom's podcasts and more things we talked about, click through to my website:

https://avonstories.com/2018/04/18/podcast-22-tom-brothwell-bristol-history-podcast/

Shawn Sobers is a filmmaker, photographer, writer, curator and academic, and I always found his community-based practice and his range of interests to be completely inspiring.

We walked along the River Avon at Lacock on a snowy day, and talked about what he does, and how and why he does it, about teaching photography, his film-making practice, projects about TransAtlantic slavery, the sinking of the SS Mendi and much more.

There are links to Shawn's work, and things we talked about, on my website:

https://avonstories.com/2018/04/05/podcast-21-shawn-sobers/

Back in 2007, artists Kayle Brandon and Heath Bunting were making some really interesting work together, including about exploring the Bristol in different ways. One of these was the Avon Canoe Pilot project, with all kinds of different aspects: sport, trying to get a Blue Flag for the Harbour, dredging rubbish, clearing a jetty, swimming... all of which sound wholesome, but were done in incredibly subversive ways.

In this podcast, they talk about the Project, and other work - and if you'd like to find out more, I have links on my site:

http://avonstories.com/2018/03/06/podcast-20-avon-canoe-pilot-project/

The image is the cover of the Avon Canoe Pilot Project, and used with kind permission of Heath Bunting and Kayle Brandon

Dru Marland is a poet and artist who lives on a narrowboat on the Kennet & Avon Canal. I went to visit her on a wet, grey day, and she told me all about her work and her life on the water, and about the community of canal-people. We talked about how she started out as a poet, and the traumatic experience that lead her to become a full-time artist, as well as the beauties and difficulties of narrowboat life, from having to find a new berth every fortnight, to more prosaic issues like dealing with the mud, and a boat's equivalent of plumbing.

You can find links to her work on my website, http://www.avonstories.com

The illustration is Dru Marland's map of the West End of the Kennet & Avon Canal, and is used with her kind permission - all rights reserved.