Photo: Shannon Tofts
Mhairi Killin and Fergus Hall with Tom DeMajo, Miek Zwamborn and Susie Leiper: On Sonorous Seas
Opening night Friday 8 July from 6-8pm. Everyone welcome for drinks and nibbles.
Mhairi Killin will open her major new collaborative exhibition On Sonorous Seas at An Tobar on Mull from 8 July to 27 August. The story behind this exhibition began with a whale carcass that came ashore in August 2018 at Traigh an t-Suidhe/Strand of the Seat, at the North end of the Isle of Iona, near Mhairi’s home. It is a story told with the voices of science, art, music and poetry, and it explores the impact of military sonar on the seas surrounding the Hebrides. On Sonorous Seas gives voice to what is not apparent beneath the beauty of the Hebridean waters. The work encourages a deeper listening to, and understanding of the sounds we may find there, and their meaning for the ecology of our seas.
In 2018, over 45 badly decomposed Cuvier’s Beaked whales washed up on the shores of several Hebridean islands. At the same time, another 23 whales were stranded on the West coast of Ireland, and scientists have been investigating this ‘unique mortality event’ in relation to the increased presence of military sonar activity in the area around Porcupine Bank, as confirmed by the Royal Navy in September 2021. In May 2021 Mhairi spent ten days at sea with the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust (HWDT) aboard their research vessel Silurian, during the NATO military exercise Joint Warrior: the largest tactically focused exercise in Europe. During the journey - which ranged from The Sea of Hebrides up to Cape Wrath and involved gruelling ten hour work days - Mhairi and HWDT scientist, Becky Dudley collected sound and visual data using hydrophones and computer software.
On Sonorous Seas is the result of this collaborative research, interrogating the power and reliance on sound as a survival tool and the impact of the legacy of military colonisation of vast areas of land in the Hebrides on the natural and cultural ecologies of the islands. To realise the final project Mhairi worked closely with both scientists and other artists.
Fascinated by what happened to the whales she reached out to other people who’d encountered them after the stranding. The skull of one particular Cuvier’s Beaked whale, which washed up at Bragar on the Isle of Lewis, is a powerful focal point in the final work. Cast silver ear bones taken from 3D scans of one of the stranded whales, create a new constellation in the gallery – mapping the positions where the whales came ashore around the islands of Iona, Mull, Coll and Tiree.
The central video piece, a constellation of strandings, reflects this installation and was created in collaboration with artist Tom deMajo (Biome Collective) in response to a new composition by Fergus Hall. Composed almost entirely from hydrophone recordings of orca calls, dolphin clicks and whistles, mid-range active military sonar and boat engines made during their research trip on the Silurian, Fergus has created an accompanying soundscape across 6 movements, featuring vocals from Lea Shaw. Dutch-born and Mull-based poet and artist Miek Zwamborn has written a new poem as an elegy and requiem for the whales, with calligraphy by artist Susie Leiper on loose-leaf papers imprinted with impressions of whale bones gathered during the stranding event.
Mhairi has produced a podcast series that explores both the research behind the project and these collaborations. The first episode will be released on 8 July and subsequently available to listen to at An Tobar, HWDT's base on Main Street, Tobermory or www.onsonorousseas.com
In August, there will be performances of elements of the sound composition at locations where the Cuvier’s beaked whales stranded, on Mull and Iona, with talks by the artists and scientists involved in the project.
“By transforming how we tell the narrative of the 2018 mass stranding of 118 beaked whales - a narrative embedded in the overlay of two cryptic environments, the habitats of the military and the habitats of the whales – through a partnership of science, music and art, we transform how we observe this story, and perhaps in doing so we can tell reality differently and bring an audience towards the complexity of this issue.”
Mhairi Killin
On Sonorous Seas is funded by An Tobar and Mull Theatre, AN Bursaries, VACMA Award/Creative Scotland, CHArts and The Space CIC with support from Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust, Scottish Assoc for Marine Science, National Museums Scotland, Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme
*All cetacean species found in Scottish waters are classed as European protected species and a Nature Scot license is required to use/collect their remains. Mhairi Killin is covered by a Nature Scot license to carry out this project.*
Photo: Shannon Tofts