White Solstice
An event to celebrate the Winter Solstice at Formby Point, sharing of memories, gong performance, and chanting, mixed-media installation in pine trees.
Commissioned by Sefton Libraries and National Trust Formby, funded by Arts Council England Grants for the Arts Libraries and Heritage Lottery.
On the 21st of December, the longest night of 2017, people were invited to gather for sunset at Formby Point to share memories, to pause and reflect on the past and future, to [re]connect with this special place, between land and sea.
Working with National Trust Formby and Sefton Libraries, Laurence Payot wanted to find a way to celebrate the love for this special place, and weave together a collective experience.
Together they collected stories of moments spent within this landscape and stories of imagined memories beyond past and future. These were entwined together into a poem by artist Scott Farlow and local residents, and performed on the White Solstice event with the rhythmic and enchanting sound of Suzie Price’s gongs.
The white circles inscribed with the stories were hung in the pinewoods like moons awaiting the absent sun, and started to glow in the deep of the night…
Welcome to this special place
At the Winter Solstice.We are gathered together,
Here and now,
Beneath these trees
At the gateway to the seas
With family, friends and strangers.
As day becomes night
Balanced and equal,
As light becomes dark and awaits the new dawn of a new day.
This moment of transformation;
A tipping point,
A re-awakening
In this ever changing edge-land.