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Rachel Shearer's eight-channel sound installation Te Oro o Te Ao (the resounding of the world) is made in response to a close listening to the earth. Ecology becomes the model for understanding interconnected and interdependent systems, as does the Māori concept of whakapapa and the sonic traditions of deep listening and acoustic ecology. Many of the sounds in the work are sourced from field recordings which are processed to create further associations within an immersive listening environment. The sound sequences of Te Oro o te Ao are recitation, incantation, and affirmation of solidarity with the interdependencies of the universe. "Immersing us in sound, without visual cues, Te Oro o te Ao enables us to spend time in an environmental in-between space inhabited by the past, present and future of human time." (Susan Ballard/Sophie Thorn – Listening Stones, Jumping Rocks, Adam Art Gallery Wall Text 2021).

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Artist's bio

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Rachel Shearer investigates sound as a medium through a range of sonic practices — installations, composing, recording, writing, as well as collaborating as a sound designer or composer for moving image and live performance events. Active as an experimental musician over decades, releasing audio publications both locally and internationally, Shearer’s work builds on her research which explores practices related to a listening to the earth through Māori and Western frameworks. She has received numerous public commissions for sound art including the permanent nine-channel sound installation The Flooded Mirror (2011) on the Auckland waterfront.

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Main image: Installation view of Rachel Shearer, Te Oro o te Ao, Te Atamira, Queenstown, 2022. Photo: Tegan Allpress.

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