Tahera Aziz: [re]locate
Until Sunday 12 May 2013

'...never [to] take the tedious task of waiting for a bus for granted.'

[re]locate is a sound installation by Tahera Aziz, revisiting the tragic events surrounding the racially motivated murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence near a bus stop in southeast London in 1993.

Taking the notion of the daily routine of waiting at the bus stop as its starting point, [re]locate explores the disruption of the everyday to foreground the murder once again, highlighting detailed elements that have particular resonance. The work examines the processes involved in struggling to preserve the memory of the case, which has had a deep impact in public life, whilst offering new insights.

Utilising transcripts from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report to build up a picture of what happened, Aziz worked with a group of actors to develop the dialogue, a field-recording artist and sound engineer to experiment with simultaneous multi-channel recording and audio compositional techniques, and a computer programmer to introduce elements of responsiveness into the sonic environment.

Motivated by a desire to explore the potential of sound and documentary practices to re-examine events associated with the Lawrence case, Aziz has developed this thought-provoking and poignant installation in which the audience is encouraged to generate their own mental images of events. This unique approach offers a mechanism for deepening audience engagement with the complex and multi-layered narratives associated with the murder. Twenty years on, [re]locate compels the audience to reconsider evolving definitions of contemporary urban experience.

Tahera Aziz has had a longstanding creative and political interest in identity, migration and racism. Over years she has produced photo-based and installation work that explores how wider socio-political issues or events can impact on the individual to shape their experiences and their sense of self and belonging.

[re]locate has been produced with funding from the Arts Council of England and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (research and development), in partnership with London South Bank University and PVA MediaLab.

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