[CAR ENGINES HUM AND HORNS HONK]
A short chime signals the start of a new voice note recording each time Alaa and Suhaiymah start to talk.
Alaa: Hey Suhaiymah, I don't know if you can hear me (laughs). I've been thinking about our V&A commission and I'm not sure what soundscape we can make that will connect people to their creativity. I feel really blank to be honest and I feel a bit like an imposter with this one.
Suhaiymah: Hey Alaa , nice to hear your voice. Where are you though? It's so loud (laughs) umm but yeah, the soundscape. I know what you mean. This commission is really stressing me out. I don't know how to connect to my own creativity right now, to be honest. Let alone helping other people reconnect to theirs.
Alaa: I'm in East Ham High Street and it's so loud here.
[SIREN BLARES]
I can't really hear anything other than the traffic when I'm here, and yeah, I feel exactly the same. I feel really tired and disconnected, but I guess we could just focus on what we would like to hear from a commission.
Suhaiymah : Okay, yeah, good idea. What would we want to hear? I mean, being in nature, that always helps me feel creative. I don't know if you can actually hear any nature where you are in East London with all those sirens and whatnot. But that's funny, isn't it? Because when people imagine artists or someone like you, I think they're thinking of someone in a studio with flowers or out with an easel in the middle of a forest, but that's so rare, isn't it? And I don't know, is it even what helps?
[TRAFFIC NOISE FADES INTO TREE LEAVES RUSTLING AND BIRDS SINGING]
Alaa: Yeah, I was going to say having some peace and quiet really helps me to be creative, but I don't actually think that's really true. Like, think about all the projects we've done around East London, around Whitechapel Market and the Idea Store. It's so loud there, so hectic and so full of people, but it never really felt like a distraction from creativity. That was where we got our inspiration from.
[BIRD SONG FADES INTO TRAFFIC NOISE AND SNIPPETS OF CONVERSATIONS ON THE STREET]
Suhaiymah: That is so true. Sometimes I completely forget that, like human landscapes can be as beautiful, I guess, as natural ones. You know, like, I don't know, maybe it's because we have to choose to see it as choreographed, like, see the marketplace as this tapestry of people weaving around each other. I guess maybe we're just more ready to find creative inspiration when we look to the sky or trees and we see birds not banging heads, stuff like that. But human chaos is similar. It can also be really inspiring. I guess you just have to stop to see it.
[CHORAL SINGING]
Alaa: Yeah, that's really true. I think I actually do need other people to feel inspiration, like the interaction with others, the exchange of ideas. That's what I think I need.
[BIRDSONG BEGINS AGAIN]
Sometimes we imagine art is just made through observing the world, but I think I need to be in the world to be able to create.
Alaa: Hey, I just got to Tower Hamlet Cemetery Park and it's really amazing here. It's just trees as far as I can see and I feel like such a kid again when I'm here. It's because I just don't know what I'll find. There's different people and there's wildlife and I just can't predict what will happen if I walk down this path or that path. I think that's the type of curiosity I've been missing.
[QUIET TRAFFIC NOISES]
Suhaiymah: That sounds great. I feel like that's actually something, as adults, something that we struggle with. Like we're trained to see unpredictability as a risk. You know, if I go down this path and explore, I'm going to be wasting time, or it's not going to lead to an outcome. But that process of just trusting that you are going to find something, or, you know, maybe you don't, but you leave with a question, that's a chance to see the world. completely differently. It's not a risk and I think, to be honest, I think that's exactly what creativity is.
Alaa: Yeah, I know what you mean. That pressure makes it really hard for me to stay curious and have a sense of play with my work. It makes me feel like I need to know exactly what the final outcome will be before I even get started. And that really blocks me from feeling like I can explore or create anything really.
[BIRS TWEETING MIXES WITH CAR ENGINE HUMMING AND SNIPPETS OF CONVERSATION ON THE STREET]
Suhaiymah: Oh my god, yeah. I know I completely agree with that. It's not easy. But then again, what? I find that sometimes it just takes a second. Like, I don't know, wherever you are right now, if you were to just stop and stand still for a minute and really focus on something, could be a sound, someone's face, or I don't know, just something on the ground, I think you'll find, I bet you'll find, something to be curious or amused about. Go on, try it. Have a look.
[INCREASING STREET NOISE MINGLES WITH PEOPLE’S VOICES]
Alaa: Okay, I'll have a look.
[SOUND OF PEOPLE CALLING OUT AND LAUGHING FADES]
