HONORARY MEMBER OF THE TOP 100 PIONEERING WOMEN FOR HER CONTRIBUTION TO THE ARTS ( WWEN : 2020 )
We all know that nature helps us to feel more human. Welcome, my name is Cheryl Beer. I am a hearing impaired, environmental sound artist and composer, living on the West coast of Wales, Up until 5 years ago, I was a touring musician in the traditional sense, but then, overnight, my life changed. It was the absence of birdsong that first alerted me to sudden hearing loss, severe tinnitus & a distortion known as hyperacusis. I learnt first-hand how devastating it can be to disconnect with nature sounds & how incredibly healing it is to be reconnected. Today, I am The Conduit Composer, collaborating with nature narratives & notating music from the biorhythms of the natural world, repurposing hearing aid and biomedical technology in ways that I would never have thought possible before ... My deepened understanding of how the natural world nurtures well being, inspires me to push the boundaries of art & technology, sculpting virtual soundscapes that connect us viscerally towards a deeper sense of place. |
Did you know that we have rainforests, right here, in Wales? Most people are unaware that we have rainforests, right on our doorstep. Carbon dated back 10,000 years, the Celtic Rainforests were once intertwined by a fine feathery funghi called mycelium, until we 'developed' the modern world and cut down the trees, separating them & now, we have just 4 fragile pockets remaining. Viewed as one of the most significant pieces of eco-history across the globe, our rainforests are in distress. Cân y Coed is my new virtual sound sculpture, empowering the rainforests of Wales by reuniting them through biorhythms beneath the bark, bringing the song of the trees from the soil to the digital world. Based with Coed Cadw & the Celtic Rainforest Project, Cân y Coed Sound Sculpture will launch by QR Code in June 2022 at the National Botanic Garden of Wales. Meanwhile, pull on your virtual wellies and join me behind the scenes for this extraordinary opportunity to find out what the music of the Earth is trying to tell us & discover the awe-inspiring secrets it holds. |
Everything Change & COP26Earlier this year, Cheryl was invited to take part in a tri-national event between Wales, India & Canada, about the Climate Crisis. Headed up by Taliesin Arts Centre at Swansea University, Dharka Literature Festival in India & Award Winning Author Margaret Atwood, in Canada - 'Everything Change' is a radical call from the world of creativity to open conversations & provocations about new & innovative ways of addressing the crisis!
In the run up & during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, the Everything Change Team have collated & published all of the work from the event. Cheryl's contribution can be seen in the youtube link opposite, as part of Changing Justice, hosted by Jane Davidson. If you click the 'Watch on Youtube' icon, it will take you to the full conference, including the opening speech by Margaret Atwood, best known for her utopian novel recently adapted for television; 'The Handmaid's Tale'. |
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CÂN Y COED : Join Cheryl in the Rainforests of Wales
Read about Cheryl's past Sound Sculpture projects
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Listen to Cheryl's research notating marine biorhtythms
Visit Cheryl's Plant Pod to hear the transposed biorhythms of plants
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Healing Our Community. As the Founder & Director of Sound Memories Dementia Friendly Radio Station, I design & deliver projects t0 support older people in creating their own Memory Resources, through Life Story & Nature Narrative. This work has won a GOLD National Award from the Wales Care Forum, was awarded an Outstanding Contribution to Drama from the University of South Wales & my Health Empowerment Model was published in a co-paper written with Nick Andrews for the International Journal of Storytelling in Health. Sound Memories Radio won an Excellence in Digital Media Award from the Celebration of Arts & Culture. It is wonderful for our work to be recognised in this way, but what really matters is how we transform people's lives, Throughout the pandemic, Sound Memories quickly became an inspirational online resource & is still working hard to bring the healing nature of the virtual outdoors, to the older community.
''Cheryl is a creative humanitarian. Her visionary projects enable sustainable social change
and continue to impact Arts & Health strategy at the very core of Welsh life. '' |
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