Sound Roots

22^nd June 2025

Photo: Nick Ferguson. 2023. The River Crane

About

“It is interesting to contemplate a tangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds…” Charles Darwin. In:  Darwin, C., Padel, R., 2009. The Origin of Species and the Voyage of the Beagle, Reprint edition. ed. Vintage Classics. p. 913

Sound Roots is a two-part event exploring the sounds of human and botanical interactions along the River Crane, West London. It is convened by artists Nick Ferguson and Kate Carr and brought to you in collaboration with Richmond Art and Ideas Festival and Crane Valley Partnership.

Part I, The River Crane Sound Walk explores the soundscape of human interaction with riverbank plants along the River Crane. We will take notes, make recordings and photos and have conversations. We’ll be asking: What can sound contribute to our understandings of human/plant relations?

Duration: 1hr 30mins. Open to all. Booking essential via this link or the Richmond Art and Ideas Festival website.

Part II, On Listening to the Botanical World is an afternoon of events hosted at The Exchange. Inspired by the meanders and connections of the river, the programme will include a live performance of a soundscape using botanical material and field recordings, seasonal drinks made from plants foraged from the Crane valley, a photographic display and discussions. With contributions from ethnobotanist Dr Sarah Edwards and others.

Free. Open to all. Booking recommended via this link, the Exchange or the Richmond Art and Ideas Festival website.

The Contributors

Kate Carr’s practice explores the encounters, textures and technologies entangled with field recording using movement, objects and experimental recording techniques. She creates intimate, delicate and hybrid sound worlds which centre the interactions and collectivity which generate soundscapes. https://www.gleamingsilverribbon.com/

Dr Sarah Edwards, author of The Ethnobotanical, is an ethnobotanist at the University of Oxford, where she teaches Ethnobiology and Biological Conservation and manages plant records for the Botanic Garden & Arboretum. She began her career at Kew Gardens, worked with First Nations communities in Australia, and has collaborated with artists on Richmond’s Cultural Reforesting programme.

Nick Ferguson works with local organisations, exhibitions and visual arts media to build new environmental imaginaries.  www.nickferguson.co.uk

Rob Gray was a co-founder of Friends of the River Crane Environment (FORCE) in 2003 and continues as a Trustee.  In 2021 Rob helped to set up Crane Valley CIC as the new host for the Crane Valley Partnership. These organisations have helped to invest over £20m in to the Crane Valley and are working in Partnership with many others to transform the community and environmental value of this urban river catchment.

Further reading/viewing and related projects