Sound artist Una Lee takes a unique approach to storytelling

Trained composer and musician Una Lee describes herself as an artist of sounds, stories and sensations. Recently awarded funding though the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s National Lottery funded Minority Ethnic Artists Programme, Una seeks to tell stories in new and unique ways, bringing together elements of music, sound, performance art and digital interaction in her practice.

On Wednesday 6th April she will perform at Belfast’s newest events space Banana Block (Portview Trade Centre, Newtownards Road), joining a host of other artists for the launch of the 2022 Sonorities Festival Belfast, a biannual festival of music and sound.

The event is just one element of her plans for this year, as using funding from the Arts Council’s Minority Ethnic Programme she will work with mentor Caroline Bergvall, an internationally acclaimed poet, artist and performer, to incorporate language into her current sound and music practice.

Drawing on her Korean-Irish heritage, she plans this year to produce a new work entitled ‘FERVĒRE’, addressing the themes of racism and sexism on the Asian female body and encouraging audiences to reflect on their own current cultural and political environment.

Speaking about her plans, Una explained:

“I'm thrilled to receive this particular award to support my new work which directly addresses being a person of minority ethnicity. I gather a sense of serendipity, which inspires me to produce my best possible work, carrying a responsibility to convey an appropriate representation. My performance at the Sonorities Festival will be a musicalisation of the homophonic-translation-poem that sits in the very centre of the whole project 'FERVĒRE', thus mark the quasi-launch of its upcoming instalments over the next months."

Joanne Wright, Music and Traditional Arts Officer at the Art Council of Northern Ireland, commented:

“Through the Minority Ethnic Programme, the Arts Council is providing vital support to our growing community of minority ethnic artists and creative practitioners. In working to create the conditions for the widest variety of art and creativity for both artists and audiences, we are seeking to address the numerous and complex barriers to access, progression and representation in the arts encountered by minority ethnic artists.

“National Lottery players raise £30 million every week for good causes in the UK and thanks to that funding, this important programme has been developed. As one of our most exciting up and coming music and performance artists, we are very much looking forward to hearing more about Una’s plans for the coming year and wish her all the very best for her performance at the Sonorities festival.”