"The exhibition Song for Newtown is the outcome of an artist residency initiated by Oriel Davies Gallery that I completed in spring 2007.

The show is a snapshot of an exchange, a complex relationship between myself and the people of Newtown, a relationship borne out of singing, and the recording of people singing.

It is an attempt to capture how the relationship started out and to what stage it has developed. The works that make up the exhibition are displays of the interaction that took place, and the bonds created between myself and the community.

The initial part to the residency in Newtown resulted in the filming of an extensive number of individual amateur singers. The process of filming was crucial.

The participants were asked for spontaneous performances without preparation, creating raw honest acts of self-assuredness, embarrassment, dignity, skill, enjoyment, solidarity, and vulnerability: singing as an often private act made into unrehearsed public performance - both revealing and touching.

During the residency, the project developed further, and I began to explore people's relationships with songs in a broader context.

Between March and April 2007 visitors to the Newtown indoor market hall found an unusual stall, where slices of freshly baked home-made German cake were exchanged for answers to short questionnaires about local song customs and traditions.

I set up and ran the stall on four Saturdays in order to research the Song for Newtown project in detail and to collect first hand information about songs and singing in Newtown.

I sparked up many conversations on why, when and what people sing during their daily routines, and I collected 168 responses in total.

Alongside the conversations about singing however, the song stall also triggered discussions about the exchange of cakes for information. Visitors expressed surprise at the fact that I was trading without taking money in the commercial setting of the market.

Some of these thoughts were then used to create an original song I Took My Song To Market in collaboration with local composer Iris Gordijn, and the Vox Orbis choir of Llangedwyn. The song brings together a range of opinions from the people of Newtown about songs and singing, which vary from very passionate and enthusiastic experiences, to more private and at times quite frustrated feelings.

The song is performed by 12 members of the Vox Orbis community singing group with a one-off live performance of I Took My Song To Market by Vox Orbis at the Newtown Indoor Market on Saturday 23 June.

I also developed a relationship with Parti Cut Lloi, a Welsh choir from the Banw Valley, who in the exhibition present a formidable reminder of the inherent tradition of Welsh singing.Song for Newtown is a reflection of a growing trust and honesty created by the connections made by myself with the people of Newtown and local area.

It is also a reminder of the changing make up of a mid-Wales town, and its historical and contemporary distinctions.

My camera and I have sparked new links, new relationships; and while their part in this will never be forgotten, what is also now exciting, is how the connections made can develop, and how the people of Newtown and Oriel Davies Gallery can become more and more acquainted.

Article by Yvonne Buchheim.