We spent this week fleshing out Codae. Dani and I discussed how trees talk to each other. In 2020 three healthy hundred-year-old sequoia trees fell onto my neighbour’s house after a brutal storm. I considered how connected they must have been to fall at the same time. This reminded me of the Dr Who episode Planet of the Ood. Scholars “agree that many episodes contain overt anti-totalitarian storylines, progressive social messages, and educative political parallels. The academic arguments are often over… the degree to which fans internalize those messages.” (Wright & Wright, 2015). I hope the audience consider the parallels between Codae and the real world

The song of captivity was the major inspiration for my music to go with our exhibition. The Ood communicate telepathically but humans cannot hear them. Humans have “kept the Ood Brain under a dampening field since they arrived on the planet… [Parallels can be drawn] to impoverished governments… compelled to be complicit in the exploitation of their people and resources. The Ood serve in order to survive.” (Wright & Wright, 2015). I wanted it to be beautiful and discordant. Dani suggested I include sound effects that capture the war on Codae. We decided on the name “Tears of the arbors” because there is only one tree left on Codae. Planet of the Ood is blatantly about slavery—I wondered how this theme might be reflected in our work—were the Arbors cut down, were they separated or artificially altered, were they complicit in their downfall?

Wright, R.R. and Wright, G.L. (2015) ‘Doctor who fandom, critical engagement, and Transmedia Storytelling’, Popular Culture as Pedagogy, pp. 11–22. doi:10.1007/978-94-6300-274-5_2.