Clair Le Couteur

Dr Clair Le Couteur (they/them) is a visually-impaired folk singer, research artist and educator. They are fascinated by vocal resonance, folk heritage and decolonising knowledge. Clair’s practice-based Fine Art PhD ‘The Fictive Museum’ (RCA 2017) mapped the spaces between fact, fiction and institutional voice in museums and archives. Clair has taught research-based practice, performance, critical theory, voice studies, and academic writing at multiple undergraduate and postgraduate institutions, including: the Royal College of Art, Goldsmiths, Camberwell, Open School East and University College Cork. Clair specialises in mentoring ESL and neurodiverse students.

Described as ‘a clap of thunder over the lukewarm waters of contemporary folk’ (Télérama, France), Clair’s performance duo Lunatraktors tour internationally. They have received multiple awards for their original arrangements of Anglo-Celtic folk music, including MOJO Magazine’s Top Ten Folk Albums of the Year 2019 and 2021, the British Music Collection LGBTQ+ Composer Award 2021, the George Butterworth Award 2022 and the Creative Waterford Award 2025. Lunatraktors specialise in site-specific, transdisciplinary projects with museums, heritage sites and galleries. Previous partners include: the V&A, the Turner Prize opening weekend, the British Museum, The Museum of the Home, Waterford Gallery, and the Musée Denys-Puech.

Practice statement

My passion is voice and resonance—in particular, considering somatic, transpersonal and institutional vocalities as assemblages. My current performance research explores folk song, overtone singing and resonant frequencies / standing waves in heritage spaces.

During my PhD, I investigated how the institutional voice is created in ‘fictive museums’: artworks that claim to be museums, and museums that function like artworks (or fictions). My wider research explores how institutional and folk knowledges can generate, and can be generated by, fictive phenomena, which cannot easily be limited to the fact/fiction binary. I’m fascinated by how museums and heritage sites interact with myth, folklore, and pseudo-historical narratives to create their institutional voice. My most recent publication is on the use of voice and the vocal acousmêtre in folk horror for screen, exploring vocal (dis)embodiment, trans-generational possession, and (non)dualism.

Current interests include: decolonising folk heritage; voice in folk horror; overtones and somatic sound; trans theory and non-binary thinking; access, inclusion and decolonisation in Anglo-Celtic folk music.

Offered services

I specialise in helping artists find their voice in academic writing—especially speakers of other languages, people with non-academic backgrounds, and people with additional needs. Besides working as an academic editor and proof-reader, I have many years’ experience as an English language teacher. As a visually-impaired, non-neurotypical and non-binary scholar myself, I’m passionate about access and inclusion. I believe in the vital importance of self-expression as a personal and political project. I enjoy helping people get back to basics, so they can feel more confident expressing themselves through the written word. This is especially crucial for artistic researchers, who often need to communicate complex, unusual, non-linear information in formal language. All too often, this means the writing becomes complicated: hard to write and even harder to read! I help my students and clients clarify and simplify their ideas, their creative projects, and their written texts. Together, we ensure the finished project reaches the highest standards while remaining widely accessible.

Testimonials:

Working with Clair has been incredibly helpful for my research. They are very direct in identifying the core problems, which made it much easier for me to see where I needed to improve. Their feedback is always clear, efficient, and professional, and they helped me adjust my direction quickly when I felt uncertain. I really appreciate their ability to get straight to the point while still being supportive. Their guidance has been very valuable to my academic development.

C. M. (PhD Student)

I have worked with Clair since November 2022 until very recently, during the early stages of developing my doctoral research proposals and journal publications. Clair has been incredibly generous, kind, and supportive, guiding me not only in academic writing but also in helping me understand what artistic research is and how to approach it. I’ve learned so much from Clair’s thoughtful feedback, reading suggestions, and encouragement throughout my conceptual and academic development. More than anything, Clair has been a consistently warm and supportive mentor throughout my long and often challenging journey of finding the right PhD program and research direction.

M. K. (PhD Student)

Website: https://www.lunatraktors.space/

Other links:
https://skyros.com/facilitators/dr-clair-le-couteur/
https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/host/14/2