What Lies Beneath Us is a celebratory visual spectacle that weaves together the thoughts, memories, and voices of Smethwick residents. At its heart is a collectively authored text that unfolds across 215 vibrant bunting flags installed along half a kilometre of canal towpath, bringing together individual voices within a shared public space. These contributions form a collective narrative of neighbourhood, belonging, journeying, and the unseen histories that run beneath everyday life, connecting people, place, and memory.
 

The colour palette draws inspiration from the vivid hues of local geological maps, whose layered bands trace the minerals beneath our feet. Smethwick High Street (which lies above the canal), is built upon layers of movement, labour, and transformation that continue to resonate beneath the surface. The nearby canal, a key piece of Industrial Revolution infrastructure, once transported the minerals and raw materials that helped build the houses, industries, and economy of the Black Country and beyond.
 

Alongside these geological references, the work adopts the triangular pennant, a form historically associated with identity, signalling, and celebration. Here, it evokes achievement, transition, and a sense of belonging to a community, rather than the rectangular flag more commonly associated with the nation state.

Stretching between Galton Bridge Tunnel and Smethwick Pumping Station, the installation connects two significant heritage sites. The intervention animates the towpath while strengthening connections between people and place, encouraging new audiences to experience the canal in fresh and imaginative ways. Visitors are invited to pause, reflect, and engage with the words that inhabit this liminal waterside space.
 

The Smethwick Library Residency

The project grew from a sustained residency in Smethwick Library, where the artist spent every Thursday over a two-month period:

• Talking with residents

• Gathering stories

• Facilitating poetry and collage workshops that contributed to the collective text

• Creating a safe space for reflection, remembering, and experimenting with different forms of writing

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To support the workshops' aims, a range of creative strategies were used to explore how community might be expressed authentically. An Imperial typewriter served as both a focal point and a tool for generating text and language for collage. Its distinctive sound attracted curiosity and encouraged conversation.

 

Word banks were developed, allowing participants to circle terms that resonated with their experiences and memories. These selections informed the creation of short phrases and poems. Themed words relating to neighbourhood, home, work, and health were also typed and cut into individual fragments, enabling participants to assemble their own combinations through collage. This approach embraced social interaction as a site of aesthetic production, foregrounding collaboration, dialogue, and shared authorship.
 

The final artwork stitches these contributions together into a collectively authored text, edited by the artist in conversation with Caroline Goyder and realised across the installation.

 

What Lies Beneath Us is a collectively authored text with contributions gathered from the workshops held in Smethwick Library, participants included:

 

Mark Anthony

Melonie Barnaby

Maruin Clanvar Garcia Giron

Abdoulaye Doumbonya

Mariam Doumbouya

Rajant Singh Gill

Bridget McClure Jones

Oladapo Olokunola

Hannah Rotchell

Sabina Ryan

Gujam Sharma

Liane Smith

Tiffancy Stearn

Henry A Letts

Fawzia Zadran

 

 

“Melonie assisted me in running these workshops over a period of two months, and her support and participation were invaluable. She helped by speaking with residents, gathering stories, and facilitating poetry and collage sessions that contributed to the collective text. Her presence helped create a safe space for reflection, remembrance, and writing in new and accessible ways.”

Beth Derbyshire, Artist

 

“It has been a privilege to work with the library, participants, fellow colleagues, and the people of Smethwick on this project. Everyone involved has approached the process with enthusiasm, generosity, and joy, the work I hope reflects the resonance of the Smethwick neighbourhood and the stories it holds.”
 

Beth Derbyshire, Artist

 

The pole installation was supported in kind by Fruitful Jobs. Special thanks to Justin Emery.