.............................black dough ...... .......... ................ ......... .......... ......... ........... .. ...... . ... ..... ..... ...... ...
rises and rises .... .......... ........ ........
black dough riceeeezzzeeee................... .......
rise supine line . ...... ...
supreme sculpture
.......alkaline spine.......
I anguish....... ..... ....... . . ........... ..
language languish... ... ... .......... ....
squish squash black cohosh
banishshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshshsssssssss
silence
Black dough is the first in a series of creative poetic soundscapes; a creative intervention which explores the boundaries between sound, spoken word and subjectivities of emotions and mental health. With all this talk about mental health, who is doing the talking? Who is talked about? Who is listening? Do we share a common language? Does everyday language and medical language capture the essence of the anguish, complications and humanity of mental health challenges. How can we move towards a shared caring , ethics and empathy for an emerging global mental health crisis?
These are the research questions that have informed the development of Poetic Soundscapes: Beyond Language of Mental Health. Black Dough invites us to open our minds and hearts and connect to notions of feelings and perceptions about mental health in an embodied way.
Black Dough sound installation, debuts at The Light in the Darkness exhibition, private view party on the 1st of October 2023 ( 7pm - 11pm), at the Espacio Gallery, Shoreditch. 152 Bethnal Green Road E2 7DG. The exhibition brings together over twenty artists from the Solar Collective22 and is supported by Mind.
Bio:
Dr.Yewande Okuleye completed her Ph.D in the History of Medicine in 2019. Her research examined the trajectories of resistance and innovations that facilitated the medicalisation of the cannabis plant. Yewande's current research draws on her multidiscplinary background in science, fine art, health, poetry and performance to facilitate immersive experiences that encourage us to embrace our subjectivities as a way of knowing.
She is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a published poet, recently commisioned to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Anne Hathaway Shakespeare's death ( in Anne-Thology:Poems Re-Presenting Anne Shakespeare, 2023), and the publication of Shakespeare's First Folio. Yewande has taught at the University of Oxford, Cambridge, Leicester, Liverpool and the University of the Arts. She is a Poet- in Residence on the Oxford Health Histories project.
Black Dough Credits:
Images for album cover andinvite: Dr Yewande Okuleye
Audio: Dr Yewande Okuleye
Audio Technician: Akin Okusami @axematic