Moving across drawing and sounding: Listening to trees

Drawing and sounding both rely on bodily movement as a basis for artistic expression. Movement provides the underlying spark that brings both visual and sonic practices to life. As part of a long-term research project titled ‘Sonic Kinesthetic Forest’, this paper reflects on a collaborative exchange between three researchers who use moving, drawing and sounding practices to deepen human relationships with trees. Through this exchange, we developed embodied approaches to drawing using sound and movement prompts to unearth the essence of trees that may be less apparent through representational forms of visual expression. To support this research, our approach was applied within a university seminar called ‘Listening to Trees’ that invited landscape architecture students to tune into the actions, ephemeralities and temporalities of trees. With bodily movement as an underlying impulse, students engaged in a simultaneous performance of sound-making and charcoal drawing (sounding–drawing) to translate the hidden qualities of trees to paper. This research demonstrates that movement can stimulate a dynamic sounding–drawing process through which the sonic kinaesthetic essence of trees can be explored. As an alternative to visually focused representational or scenic views of trees and landscapes, this process aims to offer a multi-sensory mode of expression for engaging with the living world.