Joy Gardner by Chris Dowding & Laure Van Minden

The twelfth track in the 'Black Lives Matter' collaboration between Norwich-based trumpeter Chris Dowding and artist Laure Van Minden.

I wanted to reflect the 'joy' in Joy Gardner's name, despite the horrific nature of her death. This track also includes a special appearance by composer Hugh Nankivell, whose alphabet system we have been using on this project, since I didn't have access to a piano. Two piano recordings alternate and hocket using the name melody...

Do have a look at the postcard image (or perhaps order one) to see Laure's stunning artwork...

Laure:

"I loved making this drawing for Joy Gardner. Her story really touched me and I had the urge to use masking tape to echo the way she died with adhesive tape around her head. Horrible. As your piece was short I worked quickly not thinking where to put the tape but a head suddenly emerged and I could see her eyes...I then proceded to relentlessly put tape on what I thought was her mouth as she could not breathe. I listened to the piece again and rubbed the tape quite forcibly onto the carbon paper. Again, using natural light, I saw this sort of ghostly aura or presence appear through the eye slit making the deathly tape visible."

Myrna Simpson (Joy Gardner's mother):

"How many more Joy Gardners will there be?"

Trumpeter Chris Dowding and artist Laure Van Minden are both based in Norwich.

'Black Lives Matter' is their first full duo collaboration project. It commemorates people who have died or been attacked in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement, through playing their names.

This uses an alphabet system invented by Devon-based composer Hugh Nankivell.