Being, Belonging, Becoming

Being, Belonging, Becoming

  Levels 1, 2 and 3 - Escalator (Exterior)

Audio track, 45 minutes
Commissioned for Boola Katitjin 2022
Murdoch University Art Collection

Being, located on the first level, incorporates the sounds of water, organisms and processes that occur at or under the water line. It represents the universe of sound that exists beneath the surface, often imperceptible within our range of consciousness. Embedded within this layer is the understanding that humans, and everything we have built, are held by an unacknowledged and infinite multitude. It is a devotion to the foundation of all life.

Belonging, on the second level, includes soundscapes from the bush and undergrowth of the banksia woodland, including quendas, snakes and insects, which live under constant threat of progress and development. This work includes human elements such as footsteps in leaf litter, indiscernible chatter, voice, song, and even sounds of distant traffic and industry, to remind us that humans are an intrinsic part of the ecology and have a profound impact on it.

Becoming, on the third level, represents all that exists above us, including the canopy that supports birdlife, the wind, the sun and the words of our ancestors carried away by the wind. This layer is representative of mythology, dreaming, longing, and the eternal expanse above us.

Tessa DARCEY (AKIOKA)

Born 1985 Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia
Lives and works Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia

Tessa Darcey (AKIOKA) is a Western Australian sound-based artist. In this audio sculpture, she has created a series of soundscapes for different levels of the building which aims to connect the listener to place and specifically the Beeliar Wetlands and Banksia Woodlands which surround the University campus.