The Arts for Health and Wellbeing team are delighted to commission artist and composer  John Meirion Rea to create a multi-media soundscape work, exploring the rich community in and around Cardiff Royal Infirmary.

The iconic building has a rich history and heritage and is also Cardiff and Vale UHB’s first Centre of Wellbeing, ideally placed to serve our vibrant communities through a number of services which support the most vulnerable people in Cardiff and Wales.

The Arts Council of Wales funded Cardiff Royal Infirmary: People, Place, Future project will support John to interview, record and unearth the stories, personal histories and memories of people deeply entwined with the Royal Infirmary and to capture the voices and musicality of the language and dialect that symbolises the diasporic richness of Cardiff, and the idea of ‘Urban Welsh’ communities.

The inter-disciplinary artwork will be presented as a soundscape installation and a digital legacy in collaboration with photographer and cinematographer, Huw Talfryn Walters and designer, Oliver Norcott.

Much of John’s creative work is inspired by the voices of the people of Wales. In projects such as PARADE, and Atgyfodi he works with the melodic nature, and texture of diverse languages and dialects, utilizing immersive field capturing techniques, and emerging modes of presentation.

John with Hafiz Imams Hafiz Mushtaq Ahmad, and Muhammad Abid Chishti, in the Al-Noor Mosque, Maindee, Newport, as part of the PARADE project.

More information about John’s work can be found on his website: http://www.johnmeirionrea.com

To find out more about Cardiff Royal Infirmary: People, Place, Future, please visit: http://www.cardiffandvale.art/cardiff-royal-infirmary-people-place-future/

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