Listening Lines

Welcome

Welcome to Listening Lines, where we invite you to explore Dawber Garden through sound, stories and listening.

Using headphones and your phone, you'll discover voices, memories, music and hidden LGBTQ+ histories connected to Lincoln and Lincolnshire.

As you move through the garden, different sounds appear, overlap and change - creating your own unique journey through the work.

Some of these stories come from archives. Some come from people living here today.

Together, they speak about identity, friendship, nightlife, care, protest, joy and belonging.

Whether you're LGBTQ+ or simply curious, welcome. We're glad you're here.

Welcome

Welcome to Listening Lines, where we invite you to explore Dawber Garden through sound, stories and listening.

Using headphones and your phone, you'll discover voices, memories, music and hidden LGBTQ+ histories connected to Lincoln and Lincolnshire.

As you move through the garden, different sounds appear, overlap and change - creating your own unique journey through the work.

Some of these stories come from archives. Some come from people living here today.

Together, they speak about identity, friendship, nightlife, care, protest, joy and belonging.

Whether you're LGBTQ+ or simply curious, welcome. We're glad you're here.

The Garden

For some people, Dawber Garden is more than a public space. It can be somewhere to pause, reflect and simply be yourself.

In this personal story, one contributor remembers the garden as a place of comfort during a difficult period in their life. Hidden away from the busy city, it became a sanctuary - somewhere to think, connect with others and begin imagining a different future.

The piece explores the importance of safe spaces, both physical and emotional, and how places can become deeply connected to our memories, relationships and sense of belonging.

The Gift

This piece begins with the story of Arthur Barlow, a Lincoln resident whose life briefly appears in newspaper and police records from the 1930s.

We know very little about Arthur's own thoughts or feelings. Instead, what survives is a record of how society viewed people who did not fit expected ideas of gender and identity.

Moving between past and present, the piece reflects on the courage it can take to be yourself, the importance of acceptance, and the joy that can be found in being seen for who you are.

It leaves us with a simple question: when someone trusts you enough to show you who they are, what do you do with that gift?

Nightlife

For generations of LGBTQ+ people, nightlife offered more than just a night out.

Clubs, bars and temporary dancefloors became places where people could meet, build friendships and express themselves freely, often at a time when acceptance was harder to find elsewhere.

Combining personal memories with reflections on the history of queer club culture, this piece celebrates the communities that formed through music, movement and shared experience.

Violet

This short piece explores the colour violet and the stories it carries.

Named by Lincolnshire-born scientist Isaac Newton as part of the visible spectrum of light, violet can also be found growing in the garden around you each spring.

For generations, violets held a special significance for many queer women, quietly exchanged as symbols of affection, love and connection.

Through colour, nature and history, the piece reveals how even the smallest details can hold hidden stories.

OUTLoud

OUTLoud is Lincoln's LGBTQ+ choir - a place where music, friendship and community come together.

Through the voices of choir members and the sound of collective singing, this piece explores what it means to find a space where you can be yourself and feel accepted for who you are.

It is a celebration of belonging, connection and the joy that can be found when people come together and raise their voices as one.

Between Stops

Inspired by the story of Mabel Truelove, this piece reflects on movement, identity and the desire to live life on your own terms.

Drawn from newspaper reports and court records, it follows a person who spent years travelling between towns and cities, repeatedly challenging the expectations placed upon them.

While history leaves many questions unanswered, the piece invites us to look beyond the judgements of the past and consider the courage it can take to forge your own path.

It is a story about freedom, self-determination and the lives that exist between the categories society creates.

Windmill Man

This piece tells the story of artist Karl Wood, a painter, teacher and stained-glass maker who spent much of his life travelling the countryside in search of windmills to sketch and paint.

Through reflections on creativity, grief and resilience, the work traces a life shaped by both personal loss and the challenges of living as a gay man in a time when homosexuality was criminalised.

Moving between landscape and memory, the piece considers the things that help us keep going - art, movement, friendship and the places that offer a sense of freedom.

Switchboard

At the end of a phone line, sometimes all we need is someone to listen.

Inspired by the LGBTQ+ Switchboard helpline, this piece reflects on the importance of connection, conversation and being heard.

Through a fictional phone call, it revisits the 1971 Women's Liberation Conference in Skegness and the courage it can take to speak openly about who we are.

It is a story about reaching out, finding community, and discovering that you're not alone.

More Than a Game

Sometimes the most important part of a team isn't the football.

Through the sounds and voices of Lincoln United FC LGBTQ+, this piece explores what it means to find connection, support and community through sport.

It reflects on the importance of having spaces where people can feel welcomed, valued and free to be themselves.