Rachel Gadsden

Rachel Gadsden Shamal Performance at
Misk Art Festival 2017, Kingdom Saudi Arabia

Click here to watch the video: Shamal Performance
(Note for EBA Panel please view from 7.50mins)
In this performance the camera is zoomed into Gadsden on the stage, but the full performace included 4 digital screens that projected a film created by Abigail Norris including animations by Gadsden.

Shamal Film short 3 mins: https://vimeo.com/120801222

Shamal is a 17 minute live performance, part of Al Noor ~ Fragile Vision, a music, art, and digital-film collaboration created by Rachel Gadsden (visual artist), Claire McCue (composer), Abigail Norris (filmmaker) and Lesley Shrigley Jones (cellist) that employs the epic nature of the desert landscape and the Shamal north wind as a metaphor for exploring the complex and often painful emotions which individuals and communities may have to endure when embarking upon a cultural shift, the challenges and real anxieties experienced in embracing unfamiliar ideas and moving towards a different way of seeing and doing.  Emotional and thought provoking this performance ultimately explores notions of survival and hope.

Shamal Digital Film 17 mins: https://vimeo.com/112999700

Shamal was premiered in UK at DaDaFest 2014 in Liverpool.
Shamal was perfromed as part of the Wheee! Festival in Nottingham, 29th May 2015 at 7pm as part of a collaboration with Architects of Air. This collaboration will continue when Shamal is performed and as part of National Paralympic Day and Liberty Festival 26th July, 2015, at the QEII Olympic Park, London.

Shamal Digital Film 17 mins: https://vimeo.com/112999700

Shamal Film short 3 mins: https://vimeo.com/120801222

From the initial "creative days" we spent learning about the project so far, seeing the film clips from Qatar and hearing about the personal struggles and artistic reactions of the amazing people Rachel had been working with, I knew Shamal was a special project. As the composer, I wanted to try and create a soundscape and score which reflected all these images, sounds and emotions, fragility and strength, and so I went on quite a unique kind of compositional journey. I felt immensely lucky to be a part of this wonderful, inspiring creative team within the wider project, Al Noor.

Claire McCue Composer 
Al Noor~Fragile Vision