Jimmy Peggie - A Journey in Sound
I am Jimmy Peggie an artist who’s work revolves around sound. I want my work to always represent my true self and I want it to be honest. So, sound is central to my artistic practice. It also incorporates audiovisual art - still & moving images, along with curation, installation art, radio art and transmission art. These are all ways I use to express the art of looking and listening to small things in life that are easily missed or go unobserved.
I got interested in sound at an early age. At home we had an old style radio … a wireless and by moving the dials could visit far off exotic places such as Hamburg, Warsaw, Paris etc. I liked the way that sound from distant places would drift into and out of static. At a young age I notices that durational sounds such as engines or motors would not only sound good but would give me a pleasurable sensation on my skin. Many years later I discovered this was my version of ‘automated sensory meridian response’ (ASMR). I had a cassette recorder and would tape these sounds and listen to them in a darkened room.
At an early age I begged my parents to get me a camera and eventually this paid of and I got a plastic Japanese camera. The quality of the images were not that great … but they were all mine … black and white, imperfect but just right for me! We also had a 8mm film camera and projector and would make home movies. I enjoyed the editing and splicing of the film into new things.
So in my teen years I got heavily into music and would be seen around town carrying records under my arm. I was also doing oil painting and once had 3 canvases in the local art gallery. When I was able to visit it I was amazed to see a red dot beside one as it had been sold.
I went to college and met up with people with a similar interest in music. We eventually started a band and practiced regularly in a garage. We finally got a gig which my only memory is that it being very loud. This was the era of the punk rock explosion in the UK - which encouraged people to just pick up an instrument and play. There were other forms of creating influenced by this including fashion, film, theater etc. I even performed in a modern choreography competitions I was friendly with a ballet dancer and she needed a couple of male dancers.
I moved to the US and slowly got established in a new culture. During this time I lived in the desert for almost 2 years without regular electricity or air conditioning … which was a struggle. But it did offer outdoor living and the opportunity to view the natural desert ecosystem up closely. It was a unique experience.
I eventually got to know some people and we formed a band playing our own brand of rock music. We played shows around town and did some recording. This lasted for around six years.
I got interested in playing jazz and so learned the upright bass and got to know people in the field. I did this for around 10 years and played many shows around Arizona and southern Utah. We recorded three studio albums. I was also the on call bassist for a local recording studio and got work when they needed my sound.
But I eventually got disillusioned with music - the rules, the forms, harmony, rhythm etc. I was interested in more freedom and so started to play free jazz and experimental music. I was playing my bass through effects and eventually got rid of the bass and kept the effects. I made a vow to forget everything I had learned about music!
I started doing my own recording at home. I called it the 52 week project and was dedicated to recording one new piece and posting it online every week. I did this for three years. So around twenty years have passed since this during which I’ve participated in around fifty albums. Some with others but most alone. I’m also interested in radio art and produce three, one hour shows of my own sound work every month - in France, Poland and South America. I’ve also been involved in installations and shows at various places including Berlin, London, Switzerland and NYC. I also do live performances. My life has been a total immersion in sound.
I’ve found that I have a sensitive relationship of the world around me - both natural, urban. This has aided my interest in understanding the past, our histories, our DNA, ancient environments, nature, our planet and the universe. These are all areas that inspire me.
For me there are three stages in my art process - observation, collection, transformation. Observation by explorations while listening and watching the surrounding environments. Collection is the use of recording devices, cameras etc. (I’m not a purist when it comes to these instruments which to me are just tools and I go for ease of use over perfection. I work fast and move on quickly. Always observing and on the outlook for the next thing that catches my interest. I certainly don’t overthink or analyze what I’m doing. I am in the zone). From this comes the third stage - the process of transformation, reconstruction and creative reinterpretation. This stage is done in the studio and follows the same non analytical approach which in many ways is an extension of my personality.
The collection of sound by location recording including both audible and inaudible sounds. Audible sounds are self-explanatory while inaudible sounds go beyond the human hearing range of 20-20,000 Hz. These take the form of electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) and can be generated by the sun, our planet, the atmosphere or by human technology. These are the silent undercurrents of our environment. Once recorded they can be transposed into the human hearing range.
What I do is not about documenting in the purest sense or identifying the source of sound - its phenomenological - how do the sounds make you feel? What do you experience when you hear these sounds?
For me, sound art is non musical, does not incorporate musical instruments, harmony, rhythm etc., with the focus being away from any musical pursuits.
As far as radio art or radio shows are concerned - for me it’s about connection, distance, impermanence, and ultimately disappearance. This is a type of time based art - a one off event. Intriguingly when broadcasted it leaves our atmosphere and our planet and heads into outer space. Eventually after a very long time period these waves will be absorbed into the cosmic radiation background formed during the big bang at the very start of the universe.
So I view my work as portals into time and memory and the slow erosion that time inflicts on all things. Where deterioration and change can be observed through things that are forgotten, obsolete, weathered or fragmented. It’s about observing beauty that comes from age, change and survival. So my work represents place, atmosphere, texture, erosion and duration - things that are impermanent, imperfect and incomplete.
As part of my work I use the phrase - ‘Quietude as Resistance’. Which argues that our culture of acceleration, driven by constant technological upgrades, advertising, social media, immersive spectacle and the pursuit of perfection …. which bombards the senses and trains us toward inattention. Its about favoring the spectacular over the meaningful.
In response, my work presents quietude as a deliberate act of resistance: an artistic practice built on the vocabulary of small, slow and still, which values the imperfect and the imperceptible. By slowing down and paying close attention, we reclaim our capacity to notice, and by becoming imaginative with what we observe, we turn that noticing into a creative act that needs no new device or spectacle, only time and willingness. Perhaps staying with what is here, in a culture always asking what is next, is a quietly radical choice.
At the end of the day for me its all about the art of attention - things that are unseen and unheard. Time that is outside our awareness - because beneath the present moment there is an immense amount of time. Nothing is static, everything changes. And everything leaves traces that can be observed. Things eventually transform into other states - just as we will do when we leave this life and our bodies - and are reabsorbed by the universe.
(This was the outline for an artist's talk presented on October 25, 2026)
© 2026 Jimmy Peggie