Environmental Sound Artist and Composer Cheryl Beer worked on the Secretive Species: Light and Sound residency project.
Based in Swansea with Adder Action at Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC), Buglife, and The Bat Conservation Trust, this residency took an immersive delve into Natur am Byth’s target species and their habitats, considering their relationship with light and sound and exploring contrasts between light and dark/shade and natural/artificial light, thus shedding light on hidden worlds, perils and opportunities for our species.
Lesser Horseshoe Bat Lullaby
Joining Stars of the Night Volunteers, she visited a bat maternity roost in the Gower to collate sonar recordings. From a graph of the bat sonar recording, she composed a musical baseline and a melody for a Bat Lullaby. The lyrics were inspired by conversations with volunteers. Cheryl then collaborated with Hemiola Choir Leader, Delyth Holland who taught the lullaby women choir members. Hemiola have been meeting for 40 years but stopped during Covid. This was an opportunity for them to connect with Natur am Byth and to bring them back together. Once they had learned the lullaby, the choir recorded their vocals at Cheryl’s studio. Then they visited Penllergare Valley Woods, with kind permission of the trust, joined by Cheryl and drone pilot, Jarro Media who came to film the choir members as a backdrop to the lullaby. Cheryl then edited the whole piece with an adjoining narrative recorded with choir members, as well as including their feedback.
Guardians of the Fen is an orchid lament acknowledging floral colonialism. The guardians are portrayed by male members of Hemiola choir as an antidote to today’s orchid hunters. The making of the piece followed a similar format to the Lesser Horseshoe Bat Lullaby, only this time Cheryl composed the melody by notating from the vein patterns of the orchid leaves.
Adder Portraits is a sound art, light & creative writing piece made with staff, volunteers and members at Swansea MIND, deconstructing societal stereotypes of both the adder and mental health. Cheryl commissioned Cariad Glass to make the shed skin of the adder into a camera filter, through which the group experimented with light & self-portrait photography. The sound art is composed from the patterns on the back of an adder snake photographed in the field by Adder Action.