Mother of the Sea is an outdoor soundscape installation celebrating the life and work of Leigh born botanist Dr Kathleen Mary Drew Baker.
Sunday 6 July
Pennington Flash, Leigh,
Greater Manchester, WN7 3PA.
Part of Flashes Festival of Nature 2025.
Free entry.
Commissioned by Wigan Council and Turnpike Gallery, Mother of the Sea bridges Leigh and Uto, Kumamoto, Japan, where Dr Drew is celebrated each year through a Shinto Ceremony at the Sumiyoshi shrine.
Installed for Flashes of Nature festival, IOU Theatre / David Wheeler’s Sound Wave Collider is a striking outdoor sculptural sound device where art, sound, and space converge into five distinct listening zones.
About Dr Kathleen Mary Drew Baker
Born in Leigh, 1901, Dr Drew was a pioneering British scientist whose research into the lifecycle of edible seaweed helped transform the Japanese Nori industry. Dr Drew is still remembered throughout Japan. Each year on 14 April at the Sumiyoshi Shrine, Uto, a Shinto priest recites prayers in a ceremony honouring her life and work. A monument of Dr Drew stands in the shrine garden, looking out over the nori growing Ariake Sea, where she is celebrated as the Mother of the Sea.
A Pilgrimage to Dr Drew’s monument & ceremony
This April, Jason Singh travelled to Uto where he visited the Sumiyoshi Shrine and attended the Shinto ceremony. He met with the local mayor, representatives of the Nori fisheries and Mr Yamamoto San, the 85 year old scientist who continues the legacy of Dr Drew, propagating Nori on oyster shells.
Mother of the Sea / Sound Wave Collider
From the biodata of the sacred Sakaki tree, the wind in the bamboo forests of the area, the sound of birdsong and the mantras of the Shinto priest, Jason has created Mother of the Sea.
The piece takes you across the ocean from Rhosneigr where Dr Drew made her discovery, to stand at her monument in the shrine garden; looking out at the Ariake Sea, and the Nori fishermen heading out to harvest this highly prized food.
This free sound installation invites you to move around and experience the sounds of the ceremony and the atmosphere of the Shrine.
A moment to reflect on the spirit of positive collaboration; between science and industry, between two distant nations and between humankind and nature.