Features / Podcast
Exploring Bristol from the perspective of visually impaired people
A 12-part podcast series will invite listeners to explore Bristol from a visually impaired perspective.
City of Threads will take listeners on journeys around the city and aims to “reveal new understandings and ultimately ask us to reimagine how our cities are working for us all”.
Create by a team of both visually impaired and sighted artists and participants, each episode is narrated by two of the project’s co-creatives and documents a journey taken by visually impaired people, while tell stories from love and loss, activism and resilience, community and friendship.
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The 12-part series has been made by Part Exchange Company Theatre (PECo Theatre) with National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arnolfini, Pervasive Media Studio, Vision West of England and the Sight Loss Council.
Horfield-based PEco Theatre’s recent performance projects include a show that journeyed down a street, piecing together its forgotten stories through song and using a boxing ring as a stage where the fighting spirit of a community was played out. Each episode of the organisation’s latest project will be a mix of sensory discoveries, navigational intricacies, challenges and dangers.
Jeff and Chris work on telling their stories. Photo: PECo Theatre
“I had been involved with a previous PECo Theatre project at the Arnolfini and was curious to learn more about Bristol and the difficulties faced by people with visual impairment moving around the city,” says co-host of one of the episodes, Fanny.
“I hope that people will get a greater understanding of what it means to have a visual impairment, which though at times hazardous, can give joy and pleasure, discovering different sensibilities about places that may seem familiar.”
Emma, who also narrates one of the episodes adds: “I’ve been working for Sense in Bristol for 11 years now, am visually impaired myself and am passionate about spreading awareness.
“The amount of stories featured in the podcast is endless – I hope they bring joy and help give an understanding of how we, as visually impaired people, view the city.”
Those involved in the podcast hold a discussion (before the coronavirus pandemic). Photo: PECo Theatre
Working alongside side the co-creatives, who narrate the episodes, are producers, sound designers, writers and podcast makers.
Miranda Rae, who is broadcast manager of Ujima Radio, is one of the local people who helped create the project and led a podcasting workshop.
“As someone who is completely blind in one eye and spent a lot of time without any sight this project really resonated with me,” she says. “There are so many amazing personalities involved in the project.”
The podcast will launch in November 2020.
Main photo: PECo Theatre
Read more: Innovative new BBC podcast series made in Bristol
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