MICHELLE DUXBURY
Michelle Duxbury is an artist and postgraduate researcher from Leeds, with a studio practice based in Wakefield.
Her work explores an intrinsic link between landscape, body and identity, and how our individual and collective (dis)connection to landscape can impact on our feelings of belonging/not belonging. She works with embroidery, moving image, sound and immersive installation work, using fictional narratives and speculative thinking to radically reimagine how disabled (and other marginalised) people might interact with landscapes they can not be physically present in, drawing on her own experiences as a disabled, neurodivergent woman from a working-class background.
In her body of work for Nature: Sensory titled Can You Hear The Pretty Birds Sing, she imagines a joyful and euphoric sensory connection to the green spaces of Wakefield she was unable to visit in person. Unable to leave the house on her own at the best of times due to her disabilities, this was heightened during the project as she was also experiencing issues with her wheelchair.
website: michelleduxbury.studio
instagram: @alabamathirteen
Can Your Hear The Pretty Birds Sing, 2024
In addition to the glass pieces featured in the exhibition space, there is an audiovisual element of the work presented online especially with those who may be unable to attend the exhibition in person in mind. The body of work comprises three glass panels, presented in the exhibition space, alongside an audiovisual work comprising a three part soundscape and artist film. The soundscape includes recordings taken on sites in Wakefield by other Nature: Sensory artists, shared with the artist.
[Image description: looking out towards a garden, there is a green bushy hedge to the left hand side, a wooden fence to the rear of the slightly sloped lawn. The top of a house peeks out from above the fence. Written on the glass in waxy black cursive letters it says ‘can you hear the pretty birds sing’]
CAN YOU HEAR THE PRETTY BIRDS SING, 2024
Soundscape (5 min)
DO YOU FEEL THE BREEZE CARESS YOUR SKIN, 2024
Soundscape (5 min)
BREATHE DEEP SMELL THE TREES AS THEY SWAY IN THE RAIN, 2024
Soundscape (5 min)
CAN YOU HEAR THE PRETTY BIRDS SING, 2024.
Three-part moving image (15 min 5 sec)
[Video description: The video starts with a black screen, after a few seconds it fades into a full screen video looking out to a garden through a window. An uplifting and repetitive sound loop overlaid with vibrant bird song begins to play. There is a dark green bush to the left hand side of a green lawn, slightly overgrown, and a wooden fence at the back. A vertical section of window frame splits the screen, just left of centre. The panes of glass either side are dirty around the edges, smatterings of soil resemble pale feathery frosting. On the right hand side of the screen the words ‘can you hear the pretty birds sing’ are written in waxy black cursive letters on the glass, aligned vertically one word per line. Occasionally the leaves and branches on the green bush move in the wind. At the five minute mark the sound grows faint as the screen fades out to black. The sound begins to build again, it slightly slower and deeper, now overlaid by the sound of wind blowing around and around. The screen fades back into a full video screen with the same view out to a garden. The text on the right hand side now reads ‘do you feel the breeze caress your skin’. Occasionally the leaves and branches on the green bush, and long grass at the back of the garden can be seen to sway in the breeze. At the ten minute mark the sound grows faint and the screen fades to black again. The sound begins to build again, faster and more euphoric overlaid by the sound of rainfall. The screen fades back into a full video screen with the same view out to a garden. The text on the right hand side now reads ‘breathe deep smell the trees as they sway in the rain’. The light outside is less vibrant now and the glass appears more frosted. Occasionally the leaves and branches on the green bush, and long grass at the back of the garden can be seen to sway in the breeze. At the fifteen minute mark the sound grows faint as the screen fades to black. After a few seconds white text appears on the screen one line at a time, in fast succession. It reads ‘can you hear the pretty birds sing’, ‘sound and visuals by Michelle Duxbury’, ‘commissioned for Nature: Sensory with public funding from Wakefield Council’, ‘copyright symbol 2025, Michelle Duxbury’. The text remains on the screen for a few seconds and then fades to black one final time. The video ends.]