A while ago, thanks covid, I started thinking about making my work more digitally accessible. I wanted to play with sound, but not exclude a d/Deaf audience.
In the process I consulted a range of people in the Deaf community to see what might work, and make sure my process was respectful. Then I started experimenting with audio and video to make poems that could hopefully cater for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing audiences alike.
This is my first finished work. I went for really rich visuals, all the words on screen, and captions for the sound effects. Special thanks to Deaf consultant Samantha Wilson for help with this one.
dip your toe in with this little TEASER
here you go, the FULL VERSION…
an audio visual poem, soft ground explores the senses and sensation of walking on this leaf littered Earth.
poem, voice, sound recording, sound and video edit: indigo eli
deaf consultant: samantha wilson
source videos: arsel ozgurdal, maksim goncharenok, kelly lacy, anna nekrashevich, cup of couple, anna shvets, pixabay, artem podrez
soft ground was made possible with funding from Arts South Australia and the South Australian Department of Premier and Cabinet through an Innovating Practice grant.
Screenings:
2023
- Flower, Fruit, and Flood, My Dear, SALA Festival, at Part of Things, Barmera, South Australia
- Cadence Video Poetry Festival, Northwest Film Forum, Seattle USA
- REELpoetry International Festival, Public Poetry, Houston USA
2022
- Nature & Culture International Poetry Film Festival, Poetic Phonotheque, Copenhagen Denmark
- Girls on Key Poetry Film Night, Story Week Festival, Word Travels, Sydney Australia
Permanent collections include:
© Indigo Eli. Terms of Use.
indigo eli 
loved it. we may not be able to live the heady poetry life of more carefree BC years but that shit/shift has become fertilizer for your creativity. thanks for this, cheers, rob