Word, Sound & Power is a site-specific installation exploring the shared lineage between religious oratory and reggae soundsystem culture. Commissioned for the New Generation Arts Festival in Birmingham, the work was installed in the former Central Methodist Mission, now the Q-Club, a 5,000-capacity dance music venue.
The installation draws a parallel between Methodist street-corner preaching and the concept of “word, sound, power” in reggae culture, where spoken word, amplification, and collective listening function as forms of spiritual and political expression. By activating the building’s layered histories as chapel and club, the work connects sacred and secular uses of voice, rhythm, and space.
At the centre of the former chapel, a video of reggae deejay Pablo Rider was positioned on an altar constructed from breeze blocks. On screen, he recites John 1:1 before moving into the chorus of Johnny Osbourne’s Truth and Rights. His voice is transformed through the venue’s towering sound system into a physically immersive bass presence. A letterpress-printed pamphlet placed on the altar functioned as a hymn sheet, allowing visitors to take a fragment of the work away with them.
