About the Project

This story begins with a whale carcass which came ashore in August 2018 at Traigh an t-Suidhe/Strand of the Seat, at the North end of the Isle of Iona where artist, Mhairi Killin lives.

Finding out why the whale had died led the artist on a journey into the tangled overlay of two cryptic environments; the habitats of the military and the habitats of deep diving whales. It took her on a ten-day sea voyage aboard the Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust research vessel, The Silurian, during the largest tactically-focussed, NATO-led, military exercise in Europe - Joint Warrior - and immersed her in a pelagic world of sound.

What became of the Iona whale is a story told with the voices of science, art, music and poetry. It interrogates the power of, and reliance on, sound as a survival tool for both the whales and the military, and the complex relationship between the militarisation of Scotland’s seas and their existing ecosystems. On Sonorous Seas encourages a deeper listening to, and understanding of the sounds we may find there, and their meaning for the ecology of our seas.

Led by visual artist Mhairi Killin with composer Fergus Hall - in collaboration with artist Tom deMajo of Biome Collective, poet Miek Zwamborn, calligrapher Susie Leiper and in partnership with the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust - On Sonorous Seas gives voice to what is not apparent beneath the beauty of the Hebridean waters.

On Sonorous Seas was commissioned by An Tobar and Mull Theatre, where the exhibition was first presented in July/August 2022. It was presented at The Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art in November 2022 and will travel to Taigh Chearsabhagh, Isle of Uist in September 2023.

The project was funded by AN Bursaries, VACMA Award/Creative Scotland, CHArts and The Space CIC with support from Hebridean Whale & Dolphin Trust, Scottish Assoc for Marine Science, National Museums Scotland, Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme.

With many thanks to: All the team at HWDT; Mike Darling for taking on the idea and staying with it; Jon Macleod, Màiri NicGillìosa for bones and stories; Dr. Denise Risch of Scottish Association for Marine Science, for cetacean sounds and support from the beginning; Dr. Andrew Kitchener and Dr. David Cooper of National Museum of Scotland for access to the ‘Whale Room’ and expertise in 3D scanning; Dr. Mariele Tendoeschate and Dr. Andrew Brownlow of Scottish Marine Animal Strandings Scheme, and Ashley Leiper for spectrograms.

About Mhairi Killin

Mhairi Killin lives on the Isle of Iona, in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland, where she works with the precious relationships between land, sea, humans, and other living beings. Her practice explores the island landscapes that surround and are her home, and she seeks to understand how belief structures - religious, mythopoeic, and socio-political - have shaped the physical and metaphysical spaces she journeys through.

Contact Mhairi for more info.