The Lea Wellhead Records is a narrative framework embedded in the soundscape of the River Lea's source at Well Head in Leagrave, Luton, comprising three phases: a sound archive, an interactive environmental music player, and seasonal riparian listening events. It celebrates the moral and cosmic ecological orders emerging from the area's sonic heritage, seeking to cultivate kinship among the river and its human and non-human inhabitants. 

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Amid climate and social turbulence across the UK's urban liminal landscapes, the project responds to tensions between nature and artificiality, the marginalisation of cultural spaces, and the ecological challenges posed by standardised restoration practices along the River Lea. It fills narrative gaps within dominant ecological discourse by amplifying the river’s agency in locality and embodied histories.  

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The Lea Wellhead Records invites local and external publics who care for the river—alongside riverine life—to co-compose sonic imaginaries of the river’s source. It articulates a participatory soundscape that not only activates local sonic heritage but also reveals how sound technologies can take shape through activism, adaptiveness, and reciprocity enacted in cultural and ecological systems.

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View on Central Saint Martins Shows 2025