Voices from the Meadow • Kew's Wakehurst

2024 | Sound Artist and Project Manager

What if wildlife was given a voice?

This summer at Kew’s Wakehurst in Sussex you can hear ‘Voices from the Meadow’ a new audio installation amplifying the stories of our meadow creatures.

Interviewer Annabel shares the mic with a meadow grasshopper, a scissor bee and a cinnabar moth, voiced by Wakehurst’s horticulturalists and scientists.

The piece features music by Alice Boyd, inspired by the meadow creatures, and field recordings she collected on site at Wakehurst.

The audio piece is housed in Donnacha’s ‘The Gramophone’. This sonic sculpture amplifies the voices of the creatures that our world relies on.

Experience Meadowland at Wakehurst from June 14th until September 10th 2024 🐞

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This summer, Wakehurst is celebrating one of the UK’s most threatened habitats: the meadow.

Through the meadows at Wakehurst and four bespoke art installations, immerse yourself in a showcase of the diverse wildflowers, grasses and wildlife that form these precious ecosystems, and be inspired to join us in protecting this rare habitat for future generations. 

For the first time ever, step into South Park – the 40 acres of ancient parkland which borders our Asian Heath Garden, where wildflower species will bloom in the height of summer.

The other artists:

Saroj Patel: The Wings Flutter, Grasslands are Alive - Inspired by her ancestral home in Gujarat, India, and the colourful shrines carved into the foothills of the Himalayas, Saroj’s five gateways in Bloomers Valley represent a place where plants, people and pollinators meet. 

Tord Boontje: Meadow Shadow - Expertly crafted in Senegal, Tord’s bright and bold chairs invite you to take a seat and take in your surroundings, the view and the wildflowers that flow from the base of each chair beneath you.

Heinrich & Palmer: In Visible Light - 'Step into Heinrich & Palmer’s piece, In Visible Light, and ask yourself the curious question - ‘what might a bee see as they buzz around Wakehurst?’ Inspired by scientific research into 'bee vision' and the creation of the meadows at Wakehurst as a living laboratory, the artists have used drone footage and experimental imaging techniques to transport you into an imaginative realm beyond human sight.'