I wish I could be a stone

Performed by two choristers sitting on a shingle beach close to the incoming tide. Both choristers are holding a copy of my deceased sister Hetta Fairclough’s drawing in their hands and following it as a score (or a game). They look for a stone within the shingle that resembles one from the drawing, pick it up and incant the text from the drawing before they drop the stone into the shingle and search for the next. If a stone is empty of text, they imagine the words as they would appear and sing them in their head before dropping the stone.

Performed by Rochester Cathedral Choristers. Devised by Louisa Fairclough and Richard Glover. From a body of work commissioned by Whitstable Biennale and ICIA University of Bath, 2014. Field Recording by Gregory Ovenden

Drawing by my sister Hetta Fairclough (1973-2008, drawing from early 2000s)