Sound Mirrors

Sound Mirrors by the artist duo, Dot Dash (James Wilkes and Lawrence Bradby) is a trail of unique sound portraits of six locations on the Essex coast: Chalkwell Park (Southend), East Beach (Shoeburyness), Wallasea Island, Jaywick Martello Tower, Naze Tower, and Harwich Green. 

The six geocaches form the Essex leg of the world's first Art GeoTour created as part of England’s Creative Coast.  The artists led online workshops with participants from each area who recollected sounds they had heard in these locations, reflected on the emotional associations of these sounds, and turned this into a new piece of writing. Recordings of the participants reading their texts form the basis for sound works for each site, with audio production by Ed Prosser.

Each sound work is accessed via a QR code hidden as a geocache. Visitors who find the geocaches can listen to the sound works in situ on their smartphones or at home via a weblink. 

Stretching around the Essex shoreline, Sound Mirrors connects people’s experiences of their local environment to the presence of Katrina Palmer’s new commissioned artwork HELLO RETREAT at East Beach which is part of Estuary 2021 and Waterfronts (England’s Creative Coast).  

Each geocache becomes a ‘sound mirror’, allowing visitors to listen to local communities’ reflections (in speech) of the sound of their local area. Together, the geocaches create a network of listening mirrors, each one specific to its local soundworld, but connected by a common form and theme.

Follow the GeoTour on geocaching.com here.