Liz K Miller

This project draws attention to the essential relationship between humans and trees. The research explores the magnificence, importance and vulnerability of the forest ecosystem.Within the era of the Anthropocene, my work acknowledges a time in which humans are radically and permanently changing the conditions and structure of the surface of the earth, affecting the capacity and ability for life to flourish. My thesis bears witness to a threatened sylvan landscape which is phenologically changing.

In the time of the Anthropocene, how can the act and art of listening create the conditions for human re-engagement and reconnection with the forest environment?

How might the sylvan soundscape be augmented from a visual arts perspective, and could this be used to enhance the visceral connection between humans and the forest? 

I use listening as a method for re-connection with the woodland environment, and field recording to gather an audio archive of vibrations and resonances from within forest processes such as transpiration, decomposition and water saturation. Through sound visualisation I explore and analyse the sound recordings in order to discover and reveal the hidden and unnoticed sonic depths of the sylvan forest. The resulting multi-sensory audio-visual artworks are used to direct attention and provide audiences with alternative avenues of engagement with, and perspective of trees, providing a catalyst for further dialogue regarding the importance of forests in the time of climate and ecological breakdown.

Study sites within UK forests have included: The Cairngorms National Park (Scotland), the Lake District (Cumbria), the Lizard Peninsula (Cornwall), Glen Affric (Scotland) with conservation group Trees for Life, and Blackheath Forest (Surrey) in partnership with Surrey Hills Arts. 

This research aims to make a timely, original contribution to understanding and awareness of our relationship to, and dependency on, the sylvan environment. Through the combination of field recording and sound-visualisation, this sensory-immersive art practice seeks to highlight the structure, complexity, and fragility of these essential ecosystems. Given our expanding knowledge of climate breakdown, research such as this comes at a time when re-connecting humans with our non-human companion species – the trees – has never been more critical. I seek to bring the forest viscerally to the audience in order to start a dialogue about our perception of these environments, the benefits they bring us, and consider our combined futures.