Through conversation, communion, letter writing, and ceremony, Jas Dhillon’s Words on the Wind draws on personal relationships and connections to the sea, and the natural elements of water, wind, and fire, to explore ideas of safety and connection in our physical, emotional, and spiritual worlds.
Drawing upon her own Punjabi-Sikh heritage, Jas has worked closely with the Punjabi-Sikh community in Gravesend to stimulate dialogue between cultures, exploring the shared and divergent relationships with the fundamental element of water, and the meaning it holds to the communities living at its edges.
Inspired by the timeless notion of the ‘message in a bottle’, therapeutic practices of journaling, and spiritual traditions around the world – where fire, water, and wind are used as conduits to carry dreams and prayers to life, deliver messages to people in other realms, and symbolically carry away energies that no longer serve us – Words on the Wind invites participants to join a workshop, put pen to paper and commit their message to be transformed by fire and carried on the wind.
Combining this sacred symbolism with the amplifying and soothing power of communal song, each presentation of Words on the Wind concludes with a ceremony at the water’s edge, where participants are invited to offer their written pieces to the fire and join a ceremonial singing circle, hosted by sound healer, singer-songwriter, performer, vocal expansion guide, and community organiser, Lauriem.
Words on the Wind has been commissioned by Cement Fields as part of Sea Like a Mirror.
Sea Like a Mirror is a partnership project led by Cement Fields, with Art Gene, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, North East Lincolnshire Council & East Marsh United, and Super Culture. Delivered in collaboration with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and supported with public funding from Arts Council England. Presented in Gravesend for Estuary 2025 with Estuary Festival’.
Saturday 3 May
11:30-12:30 – Words on the Wind Workshop
Sunday 4 May
17:30-19:00 – Words on the Wind Workshop and Ritual Performance
Jas Dhillon is an artist and artist-curator with an expanded practice. She uses her Punjabi, Sikh, Indian heritage, and a deep reverence for nature and spirituality, to create spaces for a tender and sensitive reflection on ideas of identity, rootedness and belonging.
Lauriem is a collective sound healer, award-winning singer-songwriter, performer, vocal expansion guide, and community organiser based across Martinique and London.
Lauriem’s approach is rooted in the practices of our ancestors, who used to come together to sing as a way of preserving connection and trust amidst tremendous pains, challenges and conflicts, but also as a means of celebration and nurturing growth in the community.
The practice of singing in community has been central to people’s mental health in so many contexts and this ancestral medicine still holds tremendous potential for our collective healing today.
