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Listening For Life

THE SCIENCE AND SEEING OF SOUND

The African Bioacoustics Community’s “Listening for Life” project is a science-art collaboration, with local artist CareCreative (Claire Homewood), that promotes active and mindful listening to nature, encouraging conservation at the community level by connecting people to nature through sound.

ListeningFor Life Skukuza photo by CareCreative_.jpeg
Hileku yingiseleni ka vutomi Skukuza Photo by CareCreative_.jpeg
HC360_CareCreative_ListeningFor Life_Kruger2024_4 (1).jpg

Through mindful listening to nature, in nature, creative harvesting, recording, painting, poetry, public participation, community science, and more, we can foster a greater appreciation of, and responsibility for, the natural world. On this multidisciplinary path, bioacoustics intersects with creative arts, environmental outreach, wellbeing, wildlife advocacy, community science and conservation.

Since October 2023, this ABC creative collaboration (including members of the Handcantrol360 graffiti crew) has created a series of murals at South Africa’s largest protected and most visited national park, Kruger National Park. These vibrant, life-like murals display Kruger’s beautiful biodiversity and the symphony of the soundscape. The artworks convey an important message to all those that see, to stop, pause, listen and connect with the acoustic environment. These murals are located in various public spaces in Skukuza, in the south of Kruger, including Skukuza Rest Camp, the Skukuza Scientific Leadership Institute research centre, Skukuza Village and Primary School.

Listening for Life "Participaintory" Workshops

To facilitate public involvement and truly involve the community in this project, the ABC creative collaboration have conducted a series of creative ‘participaintory’ workshops at Skukuza Primary School, in which the community painted part of a final mural installation. These workshops combine science and art to educate learners about the importance of the soundscape for monitoring species and the environment to effectively direct conservation strategies.

Using a variety of communicative, listening, movement, and artistic activities these workshops explain why acoustic communication between different species is vital for their day-to-day lives in a relatable manner. During the workshop the learners also build confidence to paint with free expression, and without judgement as they ‘participainted’ the final art installations at the school.

None of this would be possible without our incredibly talented artist collaborators, namely the HC360 crew.

The HC360 graffiti art crew are based in Cape Town and have completed many beautiful murals are artworks in and around the Western Cape of South Africa, bringing light and colour to the areas they visit.

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To find out more about their work, and see past projects, you can follow the link below.

THE

ABC

Founded by:

Dr Tess Gridley

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 Organised by:

Sea Search Research and Conservation

4 Bath Rd, Muizenberg, 7945, South Africa

Tel:

+27(0)21-788-1206

Email:

africanbioacoustics@gmail.com

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