Loss in Translation

Drawn from the research of Social Distance, Digital Congregation: British Ritual Innovation under COVID-19 at Manchester University, England, ‘Loss in Translation’ is a montage piece interweaving the voices of funeral and death care professionals across faiths and people who have lost loved ones during the pandemic from interviews recorded remotely during the UK’s tough winter lockdown restrictions of 2021. This is a sociological piece reflecting on how important religious and non- religious rituals are and the potentially long-term trauma incurred when they are taken away. We discover the initiation of a ‘standing stone,’ erected as a memorial for this time when death has been so present in many people’s lives.

Researched by Paulina Kolata and produced by Lucia Scazzocchio (Social Broadcasts) and Sasha Edye-Lindner. With thanks to contributors Toby Angel, Tim Ashton, Peter Gaskin, Louise Winter, Waheed Khan, Lisa Wilkinson, Rachel Meyer, Shoayb Bux, Miri Lawrence and Perry Meyer.

‘Loss in Translation’ was a runner up in this year’s Prix Archives de la Parole category at the Phonurgia Nova awards. http://phonurgia.fr/2021/10/02/palmares-2021/

Lucia Scazzocchio (Social Broadcasts, UK)

As a sound artist, radio producer, community facilitator and educator, Lucia Scazzocchio has been nurturing and curating diverse and disparate stories and conversations that weave individual personal narratives as a way to help us better understand the wider social context. She calls this ‘Social Broadcasting’. Driven by creating engaging participatory radio and audio experiences that she ‘audioscapes’ into imaginative on and off-line broadcast initiatives and formats, Social Broadcasting represents the versatility of audio as an evolving social and artistic medium.

https://www.socialbroadcasts.co.uk/