MAPPING IN LEWISHAM

for

Liberty Festival 2022

LOCAL SENSES MEMBERS ON THE BRIDGE OVER DEPTFORD CREEK. Image from the film "Mapping in Lewisham", available below.

LOCAL SENSES are delighted to be participating in Liberty Festival 2022!

The festival will take place as part of Lewisham London Borough of Culture over three days, from Friday 22nd of July until Sunday the 24th of July. Details of the festival, including information on how to book onto one of LOCAL SENSES sensory walks, can be accessed by clicking on the link below:

Liberty Festival: Mapping in Lewisham - The AlbanyJoin a one-hour walk and explore how the local environment is shaped by sound, smell and terrain. Led by Local Senses, a collective of people with varying degrees of sight. Part of Liberty Festival.

The backstory of LOCAL SENSES' work for LIBERTY FESTIVAL

In August 2021 LOCAL SENSES secured funding to develop a new body of work for LIBERTY FESTIVAL 2022. Throughout the autumn of 2021 the group engaged in an intensive process of research and development. We explored the area between Deptford Station and Deptford Creek through the use of sensory walks and creative workshops, employing language generating activities, games involving Foley sound, and haiku writing as a means of capturing the environment in ways that might facilitate further participatory sense making.

In January 2022, the group presented the development of their research to date at a sharing event hosted by the Albany Theater, Deptford.

The following invitation was written by LOCAL SENSES for that event:

"Tonight, LOCAL SENSES welcomes you to join them on a psychogeographic journey of Lewisham. Via ulterior sensory phenomena the collective will enter your mind and motivate your body in a bid to inspire you to communicate with the local environment beyond the visual. To succeed in this audacious act, they ask you to join them in a period of meditation where you will be led through the local streets towards the water of Deptford Creek. On returning to the room there will be a chance to compose a collection of Haikus and handle locally inspired talismanic forms before heading out to explore the local terrain for yourself. Here, you will join a short walk with musical accompaniment, navigating the area between the Albany and Deptford station. As we walk, we will stop and reflect on the ways in which the environment is shaped by sounds and smells and how this sited information can be captured in language. We will also speculate on the power of the terrain to lead both mind and body beyond themselves, as we move towards previous experiences held in different places and other times.

We look forward to welcoming you on this journey with us."

The following film was made by LOCAL SENSES member Nathan Bather, in order to document the research and development process:

A selection of poems written by the group can be found under "POEMS".