Please vote! Welsh experimental composer and multidisciplinary artist Gwen Siôn has been nominated and shortlisted for the MullenLowe NOVA Awards for her multidisciplinary arts project 'HS2 Ghostlands'. Gwen created this project in response to the climate emergency and HS2 in an attempt to memorialise and preserve a record of endangered woodland, highlighting issues of deforestation, habitat destruction and biodiversity loss. The project is the result of working on location at 18 specific sites across Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the outskirts of London over a 5-month period collecting field recordings and forming extensive research into HS2 and its environmental impact (the permanent destruction of 108 ancient UK woodlands and wildlife habitats). The final outcome of the project includes a digital archive of recordings in the form of an interactive sound map, a set of musical instruments hand-built by recycling natural materials found at the locations, and a piece of experimental music inspired by reading the visual landscape of the woodlands as a musical score and echoing patterns in birdsong.
Voting closes at 5pm on the 6th of August so please place your votes promptly. It would be fantastic for a young Welsh artist to win this award and to raise awareness of the environmental impact of HS2 and the destruction of ancient UK woodland. In order to vote for Gwen and her project to win the YourNOVA Award which is determined by public vote please follow this link:
To find out more about the project and explore the digital archive and interactive sound map, musical composition and photographic documentation of the instruments and locations visit:
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