Listening to Country Soundscape
In early 2019, an interdisciplinary team of artists and researchers worked with women in Brisbane Women’s Correctional Centre (BWCC) to produce a 1-hour immersive audio work based on field recordings of natural environments (of country) for the purpose of stress relief and relaxation. The aim of ‘Listening to Country’ is to explore the value of acoustic ecology in promoting cultural connection, maintenance and wellbeing among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in prison. Acoustic ecology is the study of the relationship, mediated through sound, between human beings and their environment. This soundscape is a short excerpt from the 1-hr immersive audio work produced by Leah Barclay, Bianca Beetson, Sarah Woodland and Vicki Saunders with the women at BWCC during the pilot phase in prison in early 2019.
Bianca Beetson
Bianca Beetson is a Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi (Sunshine Coast) Waradjuri (NSW) woman, Born in Roma Western Qld. Bianca studied a Bachelor of Arts Visual arts at the Qld University of Technology from 1993-95, Completed her Honours 1998 and Doctor of Visual Arts in 2018. Bianca’s is a visual artist who works in a broad range of media including painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography and public art. Also, a former member of the seminal Aboriginal artists collectives Campfire group and Proppanow. Bianca is the Director of Indigenous Research Unit at Griffith University and was previously the Program Leader of the Bachelor of Contemporary Australian Indigenous Art degree at the Queensland College of Art, Griffith University. She is also a member of QAGOMA board of trustees and their Indigenous Advisory panel and also a Member of the MCA’s artist advisory group.
Myall Creek and beyond was an exhibition of newly commissioned works curated by Bianca Beetson by contemporary Aboriginal artists held at New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM), Armidale, in June 2018, as part of a four-day long program to commemorate the 180th anniversary of the Myall Creek Massacre in 1838. The exhibition and program of events explored this difficult shared history to increase awareness and considered discourse about these events, and their continuing impact on both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. The cultural and community events that were part of the project were aimed at building upon the work and profile of the Myall Creek Memorial as a vital site for reconciliation, and to encourage increased participation in their annual commemoration. Bianca Beetson received multiple major awards for 'Myall Creek and beyond'. These included the Museums and Galleries NSW IMAGinE 2018 Awards, in which Bianca won the award for Excellence by an Aboriginal Curator and the Museums and Galleries National Indigenous Project Award 2019.
Libby Harward
Artist Libby Harward is a descendant of the Ngugi people of Mulgumpin (Moreton Island) in the Quandamooka (Moreton Bay Area). Known for her early work as an urban graffiti artist under the pseudonym of ‘Mz Murricod’, and her performance-based community activism, Harward’s recent series, ALREADY OCCUPIED, engages a continual process of re-calling – re-hearing – re-mapping – re-contextualising – de-colonising and re-instating on country that which colonisation has denied Australia’s First Peoples.This political practice engages Traditional Custodians in the evolution of ephemeral installations on mainland country which has become highly urbanised and calls for an artistic response that seeks to uncover and reinstate the cultural significance of place, which always was, and remains to be there. Her current place-based sound and video work engages directly with politically charged ideas of national and international significance.
deadstream_DABILBUNG (broken water) presents deadstream_TV: a selection of film and sound works centring the issues facing fresh and saltwater country and culture. https://libbyharward.art/project/deadstream-dabilbung-1/
deadstream_DABILBUNG (broken water) presents deadstream_TV: a selection of film and sound works centring the issues facing fresh and saltwater country and culture. https://libbyharward.art/project/deadstream-dabilbung-1/
Digi Youth Arts
Digi Youth Arts is a not-for-profit arts organisation that shares the stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. As a leading youth arts organisation, Digi Youth Arts creates change through artistic excellence, advocacy and ensuring our young people are at the core of all that we do. Through socially and politically engaged arts practice, Digi Youth Arts continues culture by encouraging, documenting and sharing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories. Through a ‘high expectations and high support’ model of mentoring, Digi Youth Arts is shaping the next generation of connected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural and arts leaders.
The video below features Digi Youth Arts actors and artists led by Digi Youth Arts director Alethea Beetson. 'Our Place' shares connection to country and invites you to learn and become part of this connection.
The video below features Digi Youth Arts actors and artists led by Digi Youth Arts director Alethea Beetson. 'Our Place' shares connection to country and invites you to learn and become part of this connection.
Vicki Saunders
Dr Vicki Saunders is a Gunggari woman from South West Queensland currently living in Southern Central Queensland. She has been an associate member of the Collaborative Research into Empowerment and Wellbeing (CREW) group in Far North Queensland, a PhD candidate and Team Investigator within the JCU led Building Indigenous Research Capacity (BIRC) project, School of Public Health Tropical Medicine & Rehabilitation Sciences and is currently working with the First Peoples Health Unit, Griffith University. Trained in psychology and public health Vicki has been involved over the last 15 years in a diverse range of research projects with Indigenous groups and community based organisations across North Queensland. Her main research interests are in the areas of child protection and family service delivery reform, Indigenist Research Methodologies and mental health research with a particular focus on empowerment, wellbeing and recovery.
Explore Vicki's publications on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=0mwvxZcAAAAJ&hl=en
Explore Vicki's publications on Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?user=0mwvxZcAAAAJ&hl=en
Leah Barclay
Leah Barclay is a sound artist, designer and researcher who works at the intersection of art, science and technology. Leah's research and creative work over the last decade has investigated innovative approaches to recording and disseminating the soundscapes of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems to inform conservation, scientific research and public engagement. Her work explores ways we can use creativity, new technologies and emerging science to reconnect communities to the environment and inspire climate action.
The soundscape below is an excerpt from ‘Migration Patterns: Saltwater’ – an immersive sound installation exploring the fragility and complexity of marine life that live in a world of sound and vibration. Drawing on a large database of hydrophone (underwater) recordings from the coastline of Queensland, this work traces sonic migration patterns and shifting ecologies from the smallest micro crustaceans to the largest marine mammals on the planet. The recordings focus around the Great Sandy Biosphere Reserve and K’Gari (Fraser Island), a major transitory point for humpback whales on their southern migration. The whale song continues to adapt and evolve in response to changing environments and the recordings are contributing to ongoing scientific research on the value of aquatic acoustic ecology in climate action.
The soundscape below is an excerpt from ‘Migration Patterns: Saltwater’ – an immersive sound installation exploring the fragility and complexity of marine life that live in a world of sound and vibration. Drawing on a large database of hydrophone (underwater) recordings from the coastline of Queensland, this work traces sonic migration patterns and shifting ecologies from the smallest micro crustaceans to the largest marine mammals on the planet. The recordings focus around the Great Sandy Biosphere Reserve and K’Gari (Fraser Island), a major transitory point for humpback whales on their southern migration. The whale song continues to adapt and evolve in response to changing environments and the recordings are contributing to ongoing scientific research on the value of aquatic acoustic ecology in climate action.
Sarah Woodland
Dr Sarah Woodland is a researcher, practitioner, and educator in applied theatre and participatory arts. She has over 20 years’ experience in the arts and cultural sectors in Australia and the UK, with a particular focus on engaging communities and groups from diverse social and cultural backgrounds, and those with experience of the criminal justice system. In her role as Dean's Research Fellow in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Melbourne, She is leading a portfolio of research entitled 'Performing Justice: Arts-Led Approaches to Cultural Rights and Wellbeing in Prison.'
Sarah Woodland: Heterotopias in Performance: Participatory theatre in a women’s prison:
http://www.dialogueforcommunity.com/2018/07/sarah-woodland-heterotopias-in-performance-participatory-theatre-in-a-womens-prison/
Sarah Woodland: Heterotopias in Performance: Participatory theatre in a women’s prison:
http://www.dialogueforcommunity.com/2018/07/sarah-woodland-heterotopias-in-performance-participatory-theatre-in-a-womens-prison/