Boots & Beards
‘Active Listening’ series
(Total duration: 42’00”)
“Sound… it keeps me safe. It keeps me entertained. And, it’s a blessing.”
‘Active Listening’ is a series of sonic adventures, co-designed and co-produced with Bonnie Boots – the female-led offshoot of the Glasgow-based charity Boots & Beards – as part of Radiophrenia’s Public Engagement programme, supported by Glasgow Life’s Arts Development Scheme.
“When it’s quiet, and you’re just listening to the environment, you can hear yourself, your thoughts and everything…”
Recorded and created over several months through a bespoke series of creative workshops, each episode invites the listener to become immersed in a distinct sound world, to take time to appreciate the beauty and diversity to be found therein, and to (re)consider their own roles as active citizens in their local and surrounding areas.
“There’s nothing stopping us, we’re just as equal as men… everything’s out there in abundance for us.”
‘Active Listening’ promotes deeper engagement with sound, both natural and constructed, and with music, rhythm, and poetry. Women who took part say they feel safer and more empowered to reclaim space from which they had felt excluded, and that they feel able to give each other the confidence to be creative, to speak openly, and to play with sound, in ways they hadn’t experienced previously.
“For me, Active Listening is [listening] to what people have to say…”
‘Active Listening’ is available, in full, as a series of captioned videos – in Urdu translation, as well as in English – produced in association with Voiceover (Govan Community Project), and Radio Atlas:
Episode 1: Crochet – https://vimeo.com/1209298644/55e14dabe3
Episode 2: Listening in the World – https://vimeo.com/1214961700/a9797390dd
Episode 3: Making Noise in the World – https://vimeo.com/1214962614/95172fdde6
Episode 4: Peace is a State of Oneness – https://vimeo.com/1214969251/24650e35cb
Boots & Beards is a Scots Asian-run charity, working with under-represented communities in Glasgow to provide access to the great outdoors, exploring the hills, and in doing so, improving physical and mental health. Founded in 2016, the organisation’s initial purpose was to bring men together, but has since expanded to provide activities for women, children and whole families, both outdoors and indoors.
Facilitation, production, sound design, and cooking, by Riah Naief (Listen Gallery) and Flora Zajicek for Radiophrenia.
Created with the support of Glasgow Life’s Arts Development Scheme.