2024
Exploring Roman York with sound and visual art
Following on from Soundmarks Aldborough in 2019, Rose has collaborated once more with artist Rob St John to create Soundmarks York. The pair have used sound and visual art to create an exhibition and art trail to explore the Roman archaeology of York.
Rose and Rob spent time exploring York: recording sound in the Minster and under the flooded eddies of the River Ouse, and sketching the Roman discoveries in the Yorkshire Museum. They have chosen six sites around the city to pull out different aspects of the Roman archaeology: The Railway station; the River; Museum Gardens; the Minster; DIG; and Micklegate. Whilst Rob composed field recordings and found sounds into a sound piece moving between the sites, Rose used painted collage to create six new pieces. This process of painted collage echoes the layered assemblages of material that lie beneath the streets of York. These collages were also used to create a film in the exhibition that narrates some of the stories of the sites.
The exhibition is currently on show at DIG in York: open daily 10-3, free entry. The art trail, sound and visual art are available free on the Soundmarks website to download and take out into the city.
The project was funded by the AHRC as part of the Roman York Beneath the Streets Project at the University of Cambridge and Reading University, in partnership with York Archaeology and Jorvik DIG.
You can buy the Soundmarks book at DIG in York, and the Soundmarks Aldborough art trail and archive is all available on the website, along with creative blog by Rob and Rose. You can follow the Soundmarks project on Instagram @soundmarks
