Sonic Nature Artist Research Trail: Sensing the Garden of Wales
The National Botanic Garden of Wales is very pleased to announce an exciting new Artist Research Trail, designed by our Artist Researcher in Residence, Cheryl Beer, who as part of her Future Wales Fellowship with the Arts Council of Wales, has developed ‘Sonic Nature: Sensing the Garden of Wales’, connecting our visitors more deeply with the natural world, through sound, music and eco-storytelling.
Cheryl says,
‘Sonic Nature is an opportunity to connect with nature through the senses. To touch, hear, feel and experience the fragile and yet resilient stories that are often overlooked and yet offer deep connection through eco-time travel, from the first flowering plant, to the fossils that make the very fabric of Wales, Sonic Nature invites you to sense the natural world through your whole being.’
Cheryl is one of 8 artists from across Wales selected for the prestigious Future Wales Fellowship. Her creative enquiry explores new ways of engaging communities with nature through the senses, using hybrid techniques that enable you to access her work both at the Garden, or wherever you are in the world, inviting you to contribute to her research with your thoughts and reflections.
She continues,
‘As part of my Fellowship research, I have developed a new practice called ‘Sonic Sketching’, working with the markings of 310-million-year-old tree fossils, the sacred skin of the Himalayan birch tree, the lifecycle of the magnolia, to compose music led by the environment.
I have also worked alongside the beekeeping team exploring vibration as a way of connecting, recording inside a colony of 30,000 bees and using a vibration vest, enabling visitors to experience the sound beneath the skin and feel what it might be like for a bee living in such a community.
My Artist Research Trail finishes with a Silent Walk to a 200-year-old Oak tree growing in Waun Las, Wales National Nature Reserve. Since my hearing loss, I have gained the most remarkable insight into experiencing nature through the senses. Silent Walk is an invitation to experience the natural world, in the ways that I do.’
Installed throughout the Garden are recycled QR codes which take you to 5 short films available in English, Welsh & British Sign Language, each taking you on a deeply moving journey into nature.
To find out more visit Cheryl’s website – www.cherylbeer.com/sonic-nature
