Artists Looking At Animals

Douglas Breault is an artist living in Massachusetts. Sound effects in this episode thanks to FreeSound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0) and lasdimot (CC-BY 4.0), and Singing Insects of North America (SINA) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Image by Wikimedia Commons user Terry Priest (CC-BY-SA 4.0).

Elly Vadseth is an artist in Norway: “When I swim now in the fjord, I can feel these beings hitting my body, and gliding over my body, and that's a very new feeling.” Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); benboncan (CC BY 3.0); and florianreichelt (CC0 1.0). Image: Stefan Siebert/National Institutes of Health via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Sofía Córdova is an artist in Oakland: "The part where we see them and we behold them and we witness them is important, but it's only important in as much as we prioritize our perspective as THE perspective on the planet." Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); neklok and tombenedict (CC BY-SA 4.0); as well as Dmitrii Eliuseev (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Wikimedia Commons; and NASA (CC0 1.0) via YouTube. Image: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Loretta Park is an artist in Boston: "I think it's really interesting that there's so many mixed emotions about this one animal."Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); dmitry-patrakov,  juskiddink (CC BY 3.0); and bidone (CC0 1.0); as well as Tierstimmenarchiv/Günter Tembrock (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE).  Image: Matthias Appel via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Jessica Caldas is an artist living in Florida: “She was walking and moving before she really could communicate with us verbally, but she could move, and she could move fast, and she was strong, and she's grabbing at my body all the time, and that was really intense for me because I started to feel like an animal.”Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); klankbeeld, RTB45, and benboncan (CC BY 3.0). Image: American Museum of Natural History via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Kristen Mills is an artist living in Johnson, Vt.: “It’s astounding how huge they are, and how elusive they are for how big they are. I’m sure I’ve walked by moose on the trail, and I can’t hear them or see them, and that to me is most fascinating.”Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron and treemangathering (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); juanlopz08, jakobthiesen, and nicstage (CC BY 3.0); as well as Tierstimmenarchiv/Karl-Heinz Frommolt (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE). Image ©[Iva]/Adobe Stock.

Sheida Soleimani is an artist living in Providence, R.I.: “I’m kind of drawing likenesses between human bodies and animal bodies. Animals can’t communicate for themselves, but oftentimes a lot of people can’t either.”Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); patchen and inchadney (CC BY 3.0); and Singing Insects of North American (SINA) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Ebitenyefa Baralaye is an artist living in Detroit: "There’s a certain kind of power in naming things and inviting others to understand things, but also a prerogative or an influence that could be seen as being sort of overriding identity."Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); digifish and benboncan (CC BY 3.0); and craigsmith (CC0 1.0). Image ©[sam]/Adobe Stock.

Devi Laskar is a writer living in Cupertino, California: "It was just so different. And I don’t think I would’ve become an artist or a writer if hadn’t been exposed to all these different thoughts and all these different people."Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); john9 (CC BY 3.0); ivolipa and chris-dagorne (CC0 1.0); as well as Tierstimmenarchiv/Winfried Krey (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE). Image by U.S. National Park Service/Neal Herbert via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Sandrine Schaefer is an artists living in Boston: “I’m always trying to be like, 'how can I be human and also be in community with my non-human neighbors?'”Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); naturenotesuk, lupalenzuela, and klangfabrik (CC0 1.0); and Singing Insects of North American (SINA) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Image by Wikimedia Commons user Acabashi (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Joshua Reiman is an artist living in Portland, Maine: “If somebody walks into an art gallery and sees the film, my instinct is not to catch their attention and keep them there. I’m not selling them anything. The point is to have introspection into who we are and the human condition.”Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); MBARI-MARS (CC BY-NC 3.0); craigsmith, DCFX, higginsdj, and piwikiwi (CC0 1.0). Image by Wikimedia Commons user Hemming1952 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Claire Calderón is a writer living in Oakland: “One of the things I’m working on, just as a person, is trying to think about investing more in things I will never see the benefits of, I’ll never see the full trajectory. And especially as Americans, we are not encouraged to think that way.” In this episode, we talk about the phoenix, playing the environmental long game, and shampoo bars.Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); n_audioman, CameronPheiffer, Benboncan, BockelSound, and matucha (CC BY 3.0); and bruno.auzet (CC0 1.0). Image by Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514), illustration from the Nuremberg Chronicle, via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Karmimadeebora McMillan is an artist living in Brooklyn: “Those stories came from something. They came from something that actually happened, and that’s truly amazing to me, how someone can take that seed and turn it into this other thing just from knowledge and history and research.” In this episode, we talk about the white stag, and animals in fantasy.Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); InspectorJ and nicStage (CC BY 3.0); kvgarlic (CC0 1.0); as well as the Hanna-Barbera Lost Treasures Sound Effects Library (Public Domain Mark 1.0) on Internet Archive, and Tierstimmenarchiv/Günter Tembrock (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE). Image © 2006 Wikimedia Commons user Túrelio (CC BY-SA 2.5).

Kendall Reiss is an artist living in Bristol, R.I.: “I think the whale is such an interesting thing because it quickly becomes this really complex network of relationship.” In this episode, we talk about the whale, and reframing our relationships with animals.Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); juskiddink (CC BY 3.0); rcproductions54 and felix.blume (CC0 1.0); Wikimedia Commons user Wilfredo R Rodriquez H (CC0 1.0); and Singing Insects of North American (SINA) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Image by National Marine Sanctuaries via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Allison Maria Rodriguez is an artist living in Boston: “I’m kind of interested in that transition from living to endangered to extinct to myth, to mythical. I think mythical animals make evidence of the beauty and the awe of actual animals.” In this episode, we talk about the thylacine, and how to grapple with big, scary ideas like extinction.Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); kangaroovindaloo and ramston (CC BY 3.0); felix.blume and thewebbster (CC0 1.0). Image by Smithsonian Institution Archives/EJ Keller via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Ethan Murrow is an artist living in Boston: “It was one of those moments when you were a kid and you realize history is so big, and kind of unquantifiable. That was one of those moments for me, when I suddenly realized all these amazing things had happened on the land, realizing there was very likely a sheep farm on the property we were working on 100 or 150 years before.” In this episode, we talk about raising sheep as the basis for art practice.Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); vman533, andune, and dobroide (CC BY 3.0); filmscore and yuval (CC0 1.0); as well as Singing Insects of North American (SINA) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo by USDA/Keith Weller vis Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

Temim Fruchter is a writer living in Brooklyn: “One of the things I’m always so aware of with animals is that is that I know so little, we know so little, about where they’re coming from, where they’re going, what’s going on with them. And it’s extremely humbling, and it’s an important kind of humbling, I think.” In this episode, we talk about the raccoon and the meaning of wildness. Sounds in this episode include recordings by Freesound users pogotron and macindoe1 (CC Sampling Plus 1.0); juanlopz08 (CC BY 3.0); kyles and chris dagone (CC0 1.0); as well as Tierstimmenarchiv/Günter Tembrock (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE). Image by Wikimedia Commons user Alexas_Photos (CC0 1.0).