All commercially produced silk textiles originate in the bodies of silkworms. Every year, billions of these creatures are raised to produce all of the silk required by textile industries.
This piece celebrates these insects and is composed of recordings made during their short life cycle. Silkworm larvae hatch from eggs laid by an adult silkmoth. Each of these eggs is the size of a poppy seed. In the next four to six weeks the larvae grow to around three inches in length. To grow at such an amazing rate the silkworms require constant feeding. Silkworms only eat leaves from the mulberry tree. They convert nutrients from these leaves into liquid protein which they store in their bodies. When they are ready, they begin turning this liquid into silk. The silk emerges from glands beside their mouths they use it to spin themselves a cocoon. Each cocoon is made of a single thread of raw silk, which is three hundred to nine hundred metres long. 

Throughout August 2014, Felicity Ford raised a colony of sixty silkworms. This piece is composed from recordings of this colony devouring mulberry leaves and spinning cocoons. The sound of the silkworms eating grows louder as they grow and their jaws get bigger. Towards the end you can hear the silkworms making their cocoons. They create them inside small cardboard tubes, and you can clearly hear the silkworms straining against their own silk threads during this process.

Sound sources

young larvae (two to three weeks old) eating mulberry leaves
ambient living room sounds from the room where the silkworms were raised
older larvae (four to five weeks old) eating mulberry leaves
silkworms making cocoons inside cardboard tubes and straining against the silk threads
the sounds of heater in the room where the silkworms were raised

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Thomas May at the silkwormstore.com for email support, and to Elaine Stobo and Viv Canning for supplying mulberry leaves for the hungry colony.


01. KNITSONIK AKA Felicity Ford - Listening to Silkworms

The Crossing is a Sonic Trail for 'Le Passeur' (The Ferryman). The audio was created by artists Gaylene Gould and Ain Bailey who worked with Awa and Graziela, two eleven year old girls from London. The girls were asked for their opinions of the artwork as well as thinking about their lives, hopes and dreams. These conversations led the girls to discuss childhood, journeys and their love of branded shoes and have been used to create the Sonic Trail.

'Le Passeur' (The Ferryman) 1881 was purchased with funds provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Art Fund (with a contribution from The Wolfson Foundation) and The Hintze Family Charitable Foundation. The painting will be displayed at Tate Britain until January 2018 and will then tour to four UK-partner galleries: Oriel y Parc, Southampton City Art Gallery, Gallery Oldham and Aberdeen Art Gallery, supported by National Lottery players through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the John Ellerman Foundation and Art Fund.

The Crossing

Made in response to Christina Mackie's 2015 commission for the Duveens at Tate Britain.

09 Nets - Schoals Of Herrings

08 Nets - Shuttle

07 Soda Lime Glass

06 Glassy Faience

05 Moldavite

04 Obsidian Nodules

03 Lybian Desert Glass

02 Fulgurite

Go on a listening adventure with local families to discover the 1910 gallery at Tate Britain. 
Immerse yourselves in their stories and be inspired to create your own.

Families from Pimlico Primary School have worked together to develop, perform and record a tour that takes the form of a story about a flooded village where multiple languages are spoken. Connecting artworks in the 1910 gallery, the sonic trail includes the voices and words of families as well as a soundscape inspired by the group.

Supported by artist Tess Denman-Cleaver and Tate’s Early Years and Families’ team.

The Waves Were Too Too Too Too Big

Our Sonic Trails are pieces of sound art, they let you listen to recordings and compositions created by artists. Some allow you to experience somewhere entirely different to your surroundings, like the clicks and songs of whales and other under water animals while you’re walking through the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern or a choir singing in the Duveen galleries at Tate Britain. Some allow you to imagine the process that went into making a sculpture and some uncover hidden sounds which can normally only be heard at night. 

01. KNITSONIK AKA Felicity Ford - Listening to Silkworms

Sonic Trails

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