Exploring Language and Landscape: A Design Installation
Jump Spark Ltd commissioned McGregor Coxall to design a visual installation for a bilingual audio project with Eryri National Park and Sherman Theatre Cardiff, exploring the themes of language, landscape, nature, and place. The design investigates the connection between language loss and climate loss, raising the question: does linguistic determinism affect our experience of climate change?
The project features four audio dramas, each offering a unique perspective on the themes. The works are by turns lyrical, funny and heartfelt explorations of the age-old relationship between language and landscape.
Sophie Thomas, McGregor Coxall’s Narrative Designer, led on creating an immersive environment to house the audio installation. Her design emphasised the experience of ‘noticing’, intertwining the themes of each audio piece in visual metaphor and dramaturgically led experience. The design process unearthed numerous connections, such as the visual symmetry between technology and nature (consider words like “bug”, “virus”, and “apple”) and how nature provides the physical materials to articulate language (think pencils and inks).
Sophie shared her reflections on the project:
“In Wales, where I am from, there is a proverb that states, ‘cenedl heb iaith, cenedl heb galon,’ which translates as “a nation without a language is a nation without a heart.’ Wales, and life, have taught me it is both significant and humane to express yourself in your own words. Language is universal, beautifully complex, and deeply personal – qualities that can also be attributed to landscapes. Landscapes can be biographical. I watched a documentary in The New Yorker about a Welsh Shepard and a line from it stayed with me: “This valley is made to the shape of my heart.” Such honest poetry comes naturally from people who know their land and spend attention conversing with it.”
The final installation featured paper flowers adorned with printed text, a miniature world inside a dollhouse, and a communal tree where visitors could share and adopt nature words. Audience contribution was encouraged to enrich the design, applying new meaning to the installation and allowing it to evolve. Visitor interactions demonstrated that people were deeply invested in the meaning of words related to nature and habitats, reflecting expressions of home and life.
Sophie concluded:
“Words carry profound meaning for many people. People need places that resonate with their understanding of themselves and their place in the world. Language and landscape are never really worlds apart.”
Collaborators:
Project supported by: Arts Council Wales | Eryri National Park | Sherman Theatre
Director/Cyfarwyddwr: Fay Lomas, Izzy Rabey, Alice Eklund, Tommo Fowler
Writers/Ysgrifenwyr: Mari Izzard, Natsha Kaeda, Tommo Fowler, Fay Lomas, Alice Eklund
Sound Design & Composition/Dylunydd Sain a Chyansoddwr: Lee Affen, Tic Ashfield
Audio Plays:
Acorn: A personal journey into landscape in a digital age, delving into nature words, placenames and stories. This is an exploration both of language lost, and language gained. Drawn from workshops and interviews with participants across Wales, including multiple groups from the Sherman.
Lleisiau Milltir Sgwâr (Voices of the Square Mile): A kaleidoscope of voices explore the ways in which the Welsh language, landscape and legends define how they see nature. Drawn from workshops and interviews with participants across Wales.
Gathering Day (Diwrnod Casglu): An elderly woman retraces the path where she met her husband, travelling through the memories and landscape which shaped their lives together.
Yr Arallfyd (The Other World): On her first day working for the forestry commission, Buddug is in the middle of navigating a big decision with her girlfriend, when she falls (quite literally) into Welsh mythology.
