Listening to the Mountain Body (2025)
Installation of rhyodacite (volcanic rock) and anthropic rock with socially engaged, site-specific sound design.
This artwork was created in collaboration with Aarti Jadu, Dr Mandy Nicholson, Dalys Hill, and members of The Lyrebirds Choir and was commissioned for and presented as part of the group exhibition ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain, a project of BodyPlaceProject (BPP).
This collaborative installation was created following the On Country / In Residency BPP project, which drew artists together through the shared experience of a three-day walking residency in the Yarra Ranges on and around Mount Dandenong (Corhanwarrabul), sparking great inspiration.
The installation reinterprets the artists' shared interests in sound and materiality, spatial composition, spirituality, and community. Rooted in the geological ‘body of the mountain’, its rocky formation and volcanic origins. This work presents a dialogue between Mount Dandenong’s rhyodacite—an ancient, erosion-resistant rock—and an anthropic rock formed by human construction. The rocks are positioned as active entities, listeners, performers, and choreographic agents, as material and metaphor, linking geological time with contemporary human narratives.
A poem written by Özer has been translated into Woiwurrung by Wurundjeri artist and Traditional Custodian, Dr Mandy Nicholson and crafted into a song cycle by composer Dalys Hill, who has evolved a 9-minute composition.
The composition features the words:
ngurrak-al marram-u (mountain’s body),
dhumba-dji (talk to me),
dirrandil-dui (seed inside),
gama-dji (emerge from sleeping).
The sound score and musical composition created by Dalys Hill features the voices of ‘The Lyrebirds’, a regionally significant community choir. It provides a powerful vehicle for the community to speak from their unique perspectives of and connections to Corhanwarrabul. Capturing an intimacy between human and mountain, the soundscape becomes a field for listening and reflection, subtly challenging systems that prioritise self over the collective and profit over place.
Listening to the Mountain Body asks: What must grow now for a future rooted in care, justice, and connection?
Artistic direction, installation design and development by Aarti Jadu and Gülşen Özer.
Musical composition, harmony arrangement, vocal direction, recording, and sound design by Dalys Hill.
Language translation and cultural guidance by Wurundjeri artist and Traditional Custodian of Naarm (Melbourne), Dr Mandy Nicholson.
Featured vocals: Dalys Hill, Aarti Jadu, Mandy Nicholson, Gülşen Özer and Samara Pitt.
Soundscape created with members of The Lyrebirds Community Choir (led by Dalys Hill).
Rhyodacite gifted to the artists by David Pratt, a Yarra Ranges local and professional hard rock excavation specialist.
Produced by Gülşen Özer.
Commissioned by BodyPlaceProject.
Image credits: Listening to the mountain body in ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain, exhibition curated by Gretel Taylor with Gülsen Özer and Mandy Nicholson for BodyPlaceProject, Burrinja Gallery, 2025.
Artists: Aarti Jadu, Rebecca Murray, Mandy Nicholson, Jill Orr, Gülsen Özer, Laki Sideris, Gretel Taylor and Tammy Wong Hulbert.
Photos: Artwork documentation and opening night images by Laki Sideris
Installation of rhyodacite (volcanic rock) and anthropic rock with socially engaged, site-specific sound design.
This artwork was created in collaboration with Aarti Jadu, Dr Mandy Nicholson, Dalys Hill, and members of The Lyrebirds Choir and was commissioned for and presented as part of the group exhibition ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain, a project of BodyPlaceProject (BPP).
This collaborative installation was created following the On Country / In Residency BPP project, which drew artists together through the shared experience of a three-day walking residency in the Yarra Ranges on and around Mount Dandenong (Corhanwarrabul), sparking great inspiration.
The installation reinterprets the artists' shared interests in sound and materiality, spatial composition, spirituality, and community. Rooted in the geological ‘body of the mountain’, its rocky formation and volcanic origins. This work presents a dialogue between Mount Dandenong’s rhyodacite—an ancient, erosion-resistant rock—and an anthropic rock formed by human construction. The rocks are positioned as active entities, listeners, performers, and choreographic agents, as material and metaphor, linking geological time with contemporary human narratives.
A poem written by Özer has been translated into Woiwurrung by Wurundjeri artist and Traditional Custodian, Dr Mandy Nicholson and crafted into a song cycle by composer Dalys Hill, who has evolved a 9-minute composition.
The composition features the words:
ngurrak-al marram-u (mountain’s body),
dhumba-dji (talk to me),
dirrandil-dui (seed inside),
gama-dji (emerge from sleeping).
The sound score and musical composition created by Dalys Hill features the voices of ‘The Lyrebirds’, a regionally significant community choir. It provides a powerful vehicle for the community to speak from their unique perspectives of and connections to Corhanwarrabul. Capturing an intimacy between human and mountain, the soundscape becomes a field for listening and reflection, subtly challenging systems that prioritise self over the collective and profit over place.
Listening to the Mountain Body asks: What must grow now for a future rooted in care, justice, and connection?
Artistic direction, installation design and development by Aarti Jadu and Gülşen Özer.
Musical composition, harmony arrangement, vocal direction, recording, and sound design by Dalys Hill.
Language translation and cultural guidance by Wurundjeri artist and Traditional Custodian of Naarm (Melbourne), Dr Mandy Nicholson.
Featured vocals: Dalys Hill, Aarti Jadu, Mandy Nicholson, Gülşen Özer and Samara Pitt.
Soundscape created with members of The Lyrebirds Community Choir (led by Dalys Hill).
Rhyodacite gifted to the artists by David Pratt, a Yarra Ranges local and professional hard rock excavation specialist.
Produced by Gülşen Özer.
Commissioned by BodyPlaceProject.
Image credits: Listening to the mountain body in ngurrak-al marram-u / body of the mountain, exhibition curated by Gretel Taylor with Gülsen Özer and Mandy Nicholson for BodyPlaceProject, Burrinja Gallery, 2025.
Artists: Aarti Jadu, Rebecca Murray, Mandy Nicholson, Jill Orr, Gülsen Özer, Laki Sideris, Gretel Taylor and Tammy Wong Hulbert.
Photos: Artwork documentation and opening night images by Laki Sideris
