Young people from Lancaster and Morecambe have been involved in a project to investigate language and identity through artwork.
Twenty young people aged 11-18 took part in six workshops where ultrasound and arts-based methods were used with interactive sculpture, poetry, and digital art.
The idea was to investigate how young people in the north west connect language, body and regional identity.
The workshops culminated with an interactive exhibition where the young people displayed their work and read poetry while using an ultrasound machine to see how their tongue moved to produce speech sounds.
The ultrasound videos of tongue movements inspired artwork linking movement with language and formed part of the poetry performances.
Visitors to the exhibition could contribute to the art pieces with their own drawings and poetic reflections.
Anshi, one of the young people attending the workshops, said: “This session helped me learn how to express myself using multiple styles of art, many new, and I learned so many interesting figures and facts to help inspire the generation to develop their learning and creativity."
Researchers will analyse the artwork produced to understand how regional linguistic identity is expressed through creative means.
The team will then use themes generated from the project to design targeted experiments understanding perception of regional dialect patterns.
“We are so proud at how the young people confidently worked to develop their artistic voice throughout the process," said Claire Nance, project lead, Professor of Phonetics from Lancaster University and an expert in using ultrasound to track how tongue movements generate different sounds.
“It was a new experience for me and my colleague, Lois Fairclough, to work with artists in this way, and we are looking forward to seeing some exciting research results.”
The research is part of a joint project between Lancaster University, Lancaster creative charity for young people Escape2Make and Morecambe-based alternative art school Jewellers.
The idea to investigate language and identity through artwork was developed by Claire Nance with Jamie Jenkinson from Jewellers, and Saul Argent from Escape2Make.
Jamie said: “With E2M we were able to learn that not only do young people understand and engage with these complex ideas, but they can interpret and use them in confident and inspiring ways.”
Saul said: “We know how brilliant the young people we work with are, but even so were surprised by how confidently they connected and responded to postgraduate-level science and art theory.”
The project team also included Kriss Foster (E2M), Vaz Lockett (artist), and invited artists and workshop assistants; and the project was funded by Lancaster University Arts and Humanities Research Council Impact Acceleration Account.
The team hopes the workshops have allowed young people to develop important skills for potential future careers.
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