Sound Diagrams

Within her diagramming practice, Liz K Miller investigates whether visual imagery can foster deeper engagement with sound, through different kinds of listening. These diagrams are examples of ‘sound-sketching’ – a novel method she is developing to visually explore woodland soundscapes. The intention of this artwork is to celebrate, and draw attention towards, the hidden and unnoticed sounds made by trees.

Waiting Diagram

Pencil on Graph Paper (2020)

A visual analysis of the temporality of sitting in a pine thicket in Blackheath Forest waiting in anticipation for the sound of creaking trees. The moment of each creak is marked with a line on the diagram.

Creak #1

Woodblock prints made from larch bark dye and ink (2020)

Sonic contours of creaking pine trees. Part of a wider exploration into natural dyes made from sylvan matter that seeks to reconnect with the tree species that provide this wealth of colour and material.

Creak #2

Creak #3

Sound Sketch - Forest Rain

Cyanotype (2019)

Sound sketches visualising the soundscape of rain crashing into dry forest earth. Recorded in the Forest of Mar, Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, during the 2018 summer drought.

Sound Sketch - Forest Rain Sonic Breakdown #1

Cyanotype (2019)

Sound Sketch - Forest Rain Sonic Breakdown #2

Cyanotype (2019)

Sound Sketch - Forest Rain Sonic Breakdown #3

Cyanotype (2019)

Sound Sketch - Forest Rain Sonic Breakdown #4

Cyanotype (2019)

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