Sound is an essential element of how an environment is experienced. While sound may not be directly perceived, it can be intrinsic to a person’s perception of the atmosphere or ambience of a location. Methods exist for translating recorded sound into sound-images. I made visual artworks related to these images, which provided a way to reflect on experiential and ephemeral elements of a place and represent these to an audience. This enabled me to investigate the way sound and drawing can contribute to an understanding of a place. To create work I: recorded sound from chosen sites; translated selected sounds into sound-images using software; layered and processed these images into combined forms; and used these forms as the basis of large scale drawing and paper relief works. Works focused on locations along a path following a creek in metropolitan Melbourne. When making recordings, I sought details of sound that I perceived to be characteristic of the chosen locations and which connected to the ambience of the site, such as the rustle of leaves. I tested a range of software to generate sound images and applied visualisation methods including cochleagrams, spectrograms, sonograms and 3-D sound plots; and used tonal, line and dot representations in software. I explored different mediums to respond to these sound images, including pencil, conte and paper. Developing from this, I created paper relief works. The visual works were presented in galleries with a soundscape composed from the same ambient sounds from the chosen sites. Through this research I developed new ways of using sound in visual works and relating my experience of sites to an audience. The development of working with paper relief, where I tore and formed the material, provided a way to connect a sense of texture when creating work to the textures experienced in relation to sounds from the sites.
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