Peasgood creates research-led and site specific interactive artworks for galleries and outdoor public spaces, ranging from large-scale community events to intimate sound installations.[2][3] Peasgood is best known for her work in outdoor public locations with specific communities of people, often using innovative technology and design that visitors can interact with.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] Her work has been described as magical,[13] evocative[14] and memorable.[15]
Peasgood was profiled by the i as the Hip Op Composer.[16] In 2017 Peasgood delivered the TEDx Folkestone talk "Emily! Don't do that!".[17]
Peasgood was awarded a PhD by Canterbury Christ Church University for her thesis Leading with Aesthetic: Creating Accessible, Inclusive and Engaging Musical Artworks Through Experimental Processes in the Community. Peasgood is a composition tutor at Canterbury Christ Church University.[18] Peasgood is a co-author of The Work of the Military Wives Choirs[19] and The perceived effects of singing on the health and well-being of wives and partners of members of the British Armed Forces: a cross-sectional survey.[20]
In 2016 Peasgood premiered Lifted[25][26][27] at Turner Contemporary. In the same year she premiered BIRDS, a sung and spoken word piece observing feminine ritual and behaviour through the lens of a documentary film narrator[28] and Crossing Over,[29] a piece commissioned by Turner Contemporary to premier as part of its event commemorating the Zong massacre as depicted on J. M. W. Turner's painting The Slave Ship (1840).
In 2019 Never Again[44] was nominated for an Ivors Composer Award in the category of Community or Educational Project.[45][46] In 2017 Peasgood was nominated in the same category for BIRDS and other Stories and Crossing Over.[47]
Living Sound[49] and Sidney Cooper's Living Room, Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury, Kent, UK. A collection of recent works including a new commission Sidney Cooper's Living Room to celebrate the 150-year anniversary of the gallery. 12 January – 23 February 2019.
Public art
I would rather walk with you,[50][51] West Wing Battery at Fort Burgoyne, Dover, UK. Commissioned for Pioneering Places by the Land Trust. Permanent, available from August 2021, date TBC.
Katherine,[52][53]St Clement's Church, Old Romney. A murder mystery in sound and music. Commissioned by Art in Romney Marsh. 21 September – 13 October 2019.
Smack Boys,[54] Sailor's Church, Military Road, Ramsgate, Kent, UK. Sound installation commissioned for Ramsgate Festival of Sound. 21–28 July 2019.
The Illusion of Conscious Thought,[55][56]East Hill Cliff Railway, West Hill Cliff Railway, Hastings, Sussex, UK. Two-part sound installation 'up' and 'down' movements that comment on social mobility and regeneration in contrasting parts of Hastings. Commissioned by Greig Burgoyne and Sweet and Dandy for Coastal Current Arts Festival. 1–30 September 2018.
Requiem for Cross Bones,[57][58] Crossbones Garden, Redcross Way, London Bridge, London, UK.[59] Interactive sound installation on a post-medieval burial site. Commissioned by Illuminate Productions and Better Bankside for MERGE Bankside in partnership with Bankside Open Spaces Trust (BOST) and Tate Modern. June – July 2018.
Halfway to Heaven,[60][61][62][63][64][65][66] Bradstone Road Burial Ground, Folkestone, Kent, UK. Interactive synchronised sound installation and choral work. Commissioned by The Creative Foundation for Folkestone Triennial, 2017, curated by Lewis Biggs. 2 September – 5 November 2017.
Cambridge North Folk Song Project,[76]Cambridge. Commissioned by Brookgate and Network Rail. Community art project resulting in the creation of 36 folk songs and verses published in a copyright free songbook available at no cost, date TBC.
VOICE100,[81][82]Turner Contemporary, Margate, Kent, UK. Beat poem featuring the recorded voices of 100 women, men and children aged 5 – 98 in Thanet, Kent. Commissioned by POW! Festival for International Women's Day, 7 March 2018.
BIRDS and other Stories,[83][84]Turner Contemporary, Margate, Kent, UK. Collaborative community project resulting in an experimental choral work and graphic score, and an exhibition of stories from 30 members of the public. Commissioned by POW! Festival to celebrate International Women's Day. 11 March 2017.
BIRDS,[88]Turner Contemporary and Resort Studios, Margate, Kent, UK. Commissioned by POW! Festival to celebrate International Women's Day. March 2016.
Collaborative works
2021: Beacons,[89] Sunny Sands Beach, Folkestone, Kent, UK. Collaborative and interactive experimental choral performance ritual to celebrate the end of a treasure-hunt that invited members of public to collect sea gooseberries to bring along. Collaboration between scenographer Alison Neighbour, interactive technologist Tarim and Peasgood as composer. March 2021, date TBC.
Jeremy Deller's English Magic ft. Emily Peasgood, Melodians Steel Orchestra and the Big Sing.[90][91] Arrangements of popular songs for community steel orchestra and community choir. Commissioned by Sounds Like Art and Turner Contemporary for the exhibition Jeremy Deller's English Magic. 11 October 2014.
Collective Spirit – The Boat Project, Turner Contemporary, Margate, Kent, UK. Collective Spirit is a boat created for the 2012 London Cultural Olympiad, made from donated family heirlooms and parts of UK history. To celebrate its arrival at Margate Harbour, Peasgood was commissioned by Parrabbola to create an arrangement of Megan Henwood's song Collective Spirit for Regents Brass Band and The Big Sing community choir. 14 July 2012.
