Poranui

About

Birdlings Flat/Poranui is located in the South Island of New Zealand between Christchurch and Akaroa at the point where Lake Forsythe enters the sea. Its main feature is the particularly hostile beach with a heavy swell and undercurrents that have claimed the lives of people attempting to swim or wander too far down its steep bank. The landscape is harsh, bleak and exposed. Banks Peninsula can be seen to the North and East, Kaitorete Spit stretches 25 km to the West and to the South is the Pacific Ocean. The peninsula and spit are both affected by human activity, particularly grazing stock. There is a small settlement, of less than 200 residents, where the sound of the sea is always present.

Material used in this piece was recorded over three visits between November 2010 and July 2011. I have endeavoured to allow the place to ‘sing’ for itself, by re-locating its voices and drawing out their nuances to express its uniqueness. Particular attention has been given to record from perspectives that visitors to this astonishing environment are unlikely to otherwise experience, such as very close proximity, where these voices become hyper-real through the ‘acoustic lens’ of the microphone. The piece seeks to define the uniqueness of the location by examining its ‘sound objects’ in terms of their individual characteristics, as well as by how they fit together and inter-relate when re-combined in different permutations.