Making Space
Immersive Sound Shapes: Songs of Borderlands | Helen Dewhurst
Songs of Borderlands began during Helen’s recent residency at The Rose Hill, Brighton, where she developed a sonic composition using data and material gathered along human migration routes. The work focuses particularly on lives lost at sea in small boat crossings — a global crisis in which many are lost without trace, ceremony, or identity.
The installation is conceived as a sonic memorial: a way of listening to the often-invisible systems of migration, honouring those who have died, and calling for safer routes for those seeking safety.
At Fabrica, Helen will extend this work into the sculptural realm, creating three-dimensional sonic forms that immerse the listener. Visitors are invited to engage with these physical sound objects, to experience how sound can be felt as much as heard, and to reflect on the layered themes of collective grief, shadow, and resilience.
As part of the residency Helen will be asking:
How does sound travel within and occupy space?
How does shape and form affect the sensory and felt experience of immersive sound?
How can the practice of social listening activate acts of loving resistance and empathetic trajectories for the most vulnerable in society?
Events
By invitation — Wednesday 15 October
A focused session for individuals with lived experience of migration or forced displacement. Please email to enquire.
Public drop-in — Thursday 16 October
Installation open 3–5 pm, with a live performance at 6.30 pm, followed by a Q&A with the artist. More information and ticket available here.
About The Artist
Helen Dewhurst is a Brighton-based artist and designer whose multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, sound, installation, photography, and live encounters. Drawing on her work in social and environmental change, she uses sound and data as sculptural materials, creating bespoke transmission methods to foster deeper understanding of the living systems we inhabit.
Her practice centres on social listening — amplifying voices that are quiet, lost or silenced, and inviting audiences to slow down, notice, and imagine new possibilities for collective care and transformation.
In 2024 DYCP grant funding from a Arts Council England has facilitated her development of practice-based research into sound as three dimensional form, around themes of human rights, migration and notions of collective shadow, learning and applying new skills in spatial sound.
This residency represents a step into immersive experience and a deepening of embodied and sensory listening within her practice, practically applying new technical skills and meeting new audiences.
During the residency, Helen will be supported by Jack Kingslake (musician) and Baran Elitez (data)
