New Home Makers
What is home?
New Home Makers is an immersive sound and light installation exploring stories of migration and home-making in Leeds. Through poetry, spoken word, sound design and original music, the work invites audiences to encounter the joy, the loss, and everything in between when worlds collide.
Premiered at Leeds Night Light Festival, the installation featured glowing, fairy-sized houses that audiences could explore to discover intimate stories and songs of migration, shared by Hongkongers and other diasporic communities living in Leeds.
Created by award-winning international theatre director Joyce Nga Yu Lee, the work centres on rebuilding homes and communities after displacement. Using miniature structures, light and layered sound, the installation captures both the fragility and wonder of making a new home.
Over two evenings, audiences lingered to explore and listen, with many visitors sharing emotional responses to the stories they encountered.
Photo of Joyce at opening night at Leeds Night Light festival. Photo by Tom Woollard
Director's feedback....
As ever Sarah delivered the highest quality of work a director could hope for. Her astute sensitivity combined with musical mastery made her the ideal collaborator in projects like this. I recommend Sarah highly
Creative Director: Joyce Nga Yu Lee
Photo by Tom Woollard
Music & Sound
Music and sound are central to New Home Makers, shaping how audiences encounter each story. Composer and sound artist Sarah Llewellyn created six bespoke sound works for the installation, each responding differently to the material and the space.
The pieces range in form and texture — from musical underscoring with poetry, to spoken word set against rhythmic sound, to purely musical responses, and works combining sound design with voice. Together, they create a layered listening experience that invites audiences to pause, listen and connect more deeply with the stories behind each door.
Listen...
Photo by Tom Woollard
Audience feedback...
The houses looked magical, and as I came closer I heard the music and it made me stay. It added so much depth
The music made the words feel even more moving
Photo by Tom Woollard
Online Gallery
A bespoke online exhibition allows audiences to explore the project remotely and listen to all of the pieces in full.
Online exhibition: live until 31 March 2026
Photo by Tom Woollard
Credits
Creative Director & Dramaturg: Joyce Nga Yu Lee
Art Installation Lead: Jamsen Law
Composer: Sarah Llewellyn
Collaborating Artist: Mahshid Alavi
Illustrator & Website Designer: Ghost Chan
Community Engagement Partner: Leeds Umbrella CIC
Featuring poetry by Masego Lynia
Presentations
Premiere
Leeds Night Light Festival — 22–23 October
Remount
29 November 2025 — Leeds Kirkgate Market
7 February 2026 — Leeds Minster
Planned
15–21 June 2026 — Refugee Week, Leeds (TBC)