Space Between UsA podcast about living with a long term health condition during the COVID-19 pandemic
Our Distance Creates Remote Programme brought connection and creativity to teenagers with similar life experiences of living with long term health conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic of spring-summer 2020.
While many teenagers were able to go about their schooling and day-to-day life the same as their peers, there were others for whom cocooning and the isolation of social distancing was a difficult reality that they had to find a way of managing.
The participants on the Distance Creates Remote Programme decided to create a piece that looked at these issues head on through the medium of a podcast. Together they created ‘Space Between Us’, a 30 minute exploration of what it is like to live with a long term health condition during a pandemic. You can listen to the podcast here.
Collaborating
Working with Helium Artist Chelsea Canavan and Wired FM Station Manager Ray Burke, ‘Space Between Us’ examines the effects of lockdown on the group, In the programme, they discuss their observations and fears, and the positives they hoped would come from an enforced period of pause.
Creating
Through online meet-ups and postal exchanges, the group came together to create visual art and to podcast their exploration of spaces within and between us.
Recording
All the recordings and artwork for this podcast and website were made by the participants themselves. They learned techniques for recording sounds and their voices through their own devices in the remote weekly sessions. The visual art challenges gave them an extra layer of expression to say or bring about new experiences recording might not have done.
Each part of the podcast was self-recorded remotely, outside of a studio, then brought together to be mixed and complied into a podcast. We found focusing on the first day of lockdown and what it was like for each of us a valuable way to connect with each other in this time and through this digital space. You can check out the website here.