Imagining Beyond: The Eeriness of Place

Imagining Beyond: The Eeriness of Place

Thanks to all who came along to my talk 'Imagining Beyond The Eeriness of Place', on Thursday at The Front Room Theatre, Weston-Super-Mare. It was a pleasure to share the practice-led research in a context outside of academia. I am interested in how the ideas that I explore can connect with people, and in finding opportunities to begin to talk about how we experience the Eerie in our culture - and why this might be suppressed.

As I reflect on this, I realise that I am creatively interested in blurring different kinds of realities, which encompasses a broad view of the 'otherworldly'. I use the term otherworldly rather than the supernatural, which narrows the phenomena of the 'otherworldly' to ghosts and supernatural phenomena. This can be a way of explaining an experience of the eerie, which is by nature inexplicable; it is about an experience that can unsettle but also invite curiosity as it opens us to a sense of mystery. I value the mystery and the way in which realities are infused with mystery, with what Fisher defines as 'agencies and forces' that are not always 'dark' or frightening but can be life-affirming. The everyday and mysterious coexist, 'things are not what they seem', which I explore through creating an 'eerie materiality' where 'things' have agency and force.

At the beginning of the talk, I shared a story that I call 'The Moth', asking the audience to embrace the 'unknown', which can have a cathartic effect. In this story, I was 'called' to a place on a specific day, January 6th, 2012, Arnos Vale Cemetery, in Bristol. In my work, this 'calling' is heard when we attune ourselves to places and are open to their call. These places may be infused with phenomena from the past; they may inspire a story, an image, and an idea.

The story that inspired 'Goat Song' was of a town where the songs had ceased. I talked about this town on Thursday, and named it, it is Llantwich Major in Glamorgan, Wales. At the end of the talk, an audience member came up to me to tell me she had lived there for 25 years. What were the chances of that? The day before the talk, I had chosen to go and do some filming there - the town calls - and I attune to the call. What is the mystery of this place? How do we attune to this? Is this a way of deepening our connection to places and the world?