Johanna Linsley and Rebecca Collins were based in Seaham, a coastal town in East Durham. They worked with community groups and local residents to gather snippets of conversations and sounds of the town. Working with composer Mariam Rezaei, they created Stolen Voices – a piece of music that celebrates how sound makes a place unique and examines the boundaries between the private and the public.
“Everyday we all negotiate the borders between public and private as part of living together in a town or city. We all overhear things and add our own thoughts and interpretations. At the same time, surveillance and privacy are important topics for everyone. Stolen Voices prompts people to think about the lines between public and private spaces.”
Stolen Voices is an on-going enquiry by Johanna and Rebecca as they use eavesdropping to map the UK coastline.