a sense of survival

A Sense of Survival — an installation of sound and sculpture 
Working in collaboration, the artists Tessa Ann and Rosalind Lowry have researched historical and social records of Crumlin Road Gaol to create this new site specific work.

A Sense of Survival responds to the gaol environment and particularly to certain sections of inmates. Using sound and sculpture the work refers to how the inmates responded to the fabric of the prison through their senses. The installation refers to the role of women in the gaol and their treatment.

Created as a tribute to the resilience of women and children in the prison system and the types of punishment given, the work also focuses on the soundscape of this prison system and the ability to survive using the senses to navigate the environment through auditory cues.

Tessa Ann is a Sound Artist, Therapeutic Sound Practitioner, and Independent Researcher. Her role in the creative industries spans back 25 years, as a DJ, Music Producer, Community Music Practitioner, Teacher, Event Organiser and Sound Artist.

She was one of the first Northern Irish female club house DJs back in 1996, alongside running her own record label and DJ’ing internationally for 18 years.

Tessa established her own music education centre in 2003 and has been commissioned by local and international companies for her sound work.

In 2021 Tessa received a Gold Level Innovator recognition from the Department of the Economy for her work in Sound Art and Invest NI have recently recognised her work in developing innovations in Sound Art programmes.

Tessa has produced Sound Art events and programmes for a huge range of organisations including Beyond Skin, Artsekta and Arts For All and she has recently developed a new Therapeutic Sound Academy, the only one of its kind in Northern Ireland, creating bespoke accredited training products to support those who work in community and social arts, as well as artists and musicians.

Tessa’s most recent sound innovation projects have seen her collaborate with Queen’s University Belfast.

Rosalind Lowry is an artist from Northern Ireland who works with a range of media to create site specific land art, installations and sculpture. She attended Chelsea School of Art and St. Martin’s School of Art in London, and in 2021 she was made a Member of The Royal Society of Sculptors.

Through numerous solo and collaborative projects she has delivered works internationally and across Ireland and she has just completed a 2 year Artist in Residence project on the peatlands of County Tyrone for the UK Heritage Lottery. She has been Artist in Residence for the Alaska State Government and Red Quincho Foundation in Argentina.

The main influences on her work are the historical human commodification of the land by man, the disappearing Irish landscape and its heritage and folklore, leading to ecological destruction and social conflict, and the presence and labour of women in the Irish landscape.

Her focus is working in response to place and using art as an intervention. This has led her to creating large scale site specific work for regional environmental and nature preservation organisations.

Scale is an important feature of her work, and pushing the materials used, and although her work is created to highlight issues, she would always hope to deliver this as a poetic and beautiful conclusion, paying tribute to the land, heritage, and resilience of the subject.

Using her work as a way to connect people and issues, her work has a social aspect, and for this she was awarded the Social Art Award from The Institute for Art & Innovation in Berlin in 2021.

There is a free access afternoon for anyone who wants to see the installation free of charge without having to pay for the full prison tour on Saturday 25th March from 1.00pm to 3.00pm

Visitors should visit at reception and will be directed to the installation. There is no need to register. Just turn up.

Learn more: thesoundhealingspa.com • Instagram • rosalindlowryartist.com • Instagram