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Participation
Three participants sitting together. One participant leans forward with joy and with a letter in their hand, while another looks at them and a third participant looks directly at the camera.

Voices of the Earth

A project with young people from the Kings Cross area.

In the summer of 2020, we explored the healing power of plants with our partner Global Generation and families and young people from the Kings Cross area. Through story-telling, gardening, writing and movement we explored the appearance of plants in myth and folklore across world cultures and their medicinal, cultural and political meaning.

The Voices of the Earth project allowed time for deep listening and celebration. Led by the groups interests and curiosity, we explored stories which sat between the epic and the personal. Stories from Norse mythology and songs from the old rice fields in Italy mingled with the imaginations of young people from Kings Cross.

Complicité Associate Naomi Frederick led the participants in creating movement pieces inspired by the plants and sound designer Dan Balfour weaved together the stories into seven sound pieces. We hope the sound pieces will offer a different way of seeing the Kings Cross area – from the big Ash tree in the Churchyard, to the Oak circle in the Story Garden, to the newly planted Thyme on the corner of the Crick Institute.

©  Sarah Ainslie