Tanya Axford, There is Nothing left of the Sea but its Sound, 2009

The work was created as part of Locws International 2009 who asked me to create a new piece in response to Swansea. The work responds to Swansea's maritime history and also its current environment, as a 'tacky' town in the throws of regeneration. I became interested in the LC a newly built leisure centre that houses a swimming pool with a wave machine, and how interesting that was in a town that is directly on the coast with beautiful natural surroundings. I was interested in this miniature highly controllable version of the sea. The swimmer is a synchronised swimmer [a highly controlled version of swimming!] and the soundtrack is by a Welsh composer [born very near Swansea] called Grace Williams- the piece is called Sea Sketches. [The title is a Dylan Thomas quote- he is very famous in Swansea!]The 8 minute work shows crashing waves with a dramatic orchestral soundtrack- as the waves begin to die down a synchronised swimmer comes into view and it gradually becomes apparent that this is not the sea but an artificial wave machine in a local swimming pool with the soundtrack playing over the tannoy....

Tanya Axford

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Tanya Axford