Songs of Sowing & Reaping
Wungunja Culture Centre, Trangie (10 October 2026 – 14 February 2027)
Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo (17 October 2026 – 14 February 2027)
Songs of Sowing & Reaping is the culmination of two years of on-site fieldwork on an innovative family farm in the Narromine Shire, and with those who keep and nurture traditional culture in the Trangie community. Dubbo-based, multi-disciplinary artist, Kim V. Goldsmith slips beneath the vibrating surfaces of the region’s familiar landscapes, searching for the sonic pulse of life within – as it is now and for our future kin.
The sounds in the works of Songs of Sowing & Reaping hold the movement and sonic memories of the day they were captured, along with the ecological echo of the Western Plains — from the past to the present. Entangled in co-dependency, humans and more-than-humans have collaborated on the soundscape compositions, while photographer Sally Pittman has worked with Goldsmith to create a series of portraits of those passing on the knowledge of these places.
SOUNDSCAPES
A Song of Sowing & Reaping, 2026, experimental soundscape composition of field recordings and electronic sounds from the farm, ‘Willydah’ from Winter 2024 to Summer 2025. Duration: 16 minutes
A Song of Sowing & Reaping is the hero work of this collection of works. It is a composition of recordings gathered from visits to the farm and surrounding areas over 18 months, capturing winter, spring, summer and autumn. Both actively present and passive, durational field recordings were made of the soundmakers in this environment over that time — the wind, the rain, the birdlife, insects, domestic animals, trees, grasses, shrubs, soil fauna, water, built structures and machinery. It’s a work that takes you through the seasons; the busy times and the quiet times on farm. The invitation is to just listen.
As the seasons cycle, so too do the sounds of the farm and the landscape it sits within. Across more than a century, the rural soundscapes of the Western Plains have changed — from a cacophony of woodland birdsong and the whisper of wind through grasslands, with the occasional grunt of roos resting in the heat of the day, to the sounds of settlement — the thwack of timber cutters and the jingle of horse-drawn machines making way for the bleat of sheep and the ever-present vibration of fencing wire. Today, the loud, whine of high-tech industrial machinery, drowns out the scritches and crackles of life beneath the surface. Machines may quieten in an era of electrification, but will it be too late? Over time, many more-than-human soundmakers have disappeared forever. Those that remain dominate the soundscapes of the plains. More are destined to fade out.
Anywhere on Earth, 2025, experimental soundscape composition and wall-mounted objects (timber and plastic), with headphones. Duration: 5 minutes
The soil beneath our feet is the most biodiverse habitat on the planet. As humans, we assume this world is silent. Minuscule and microscopic species shuffle, scuttle, scamper, wriggle, and burrow between particles and pores, shifting and reshaping with the seasons and time—time we cannot fathom. Anywhere on Earth is a 20-track mix of field recordings of wind, rain, invertebrates, electromagnetic fields, the melody of wind on fencing wire, photosynthesising plants, dewy sundews, birdsong, my slowed heartbeat, and drone chords.
Wungunja, 2026, experimental soundscape composition of field recordings from Goan Waterhole and the Wugunja Dancers (Trangie).
Duration: xx minutes
VIDEOS
Sentinel, 2026, LiDAR videos of paddock tree on the farm, ‘Willydah’. No sound. Duration:
Spending time with these giants on the plains is a privilege. Sharing their shade, listening to the breeze rustle their leaves, seeing the tears of sap leak from fissures in their bark. They have stood like sentinels over a century’s worth of change. The health of these trees today tells the impact of that change.
Subterranean serenade, 2024, soundscape composition and animated video.
Duration: 4 minutes
Tension exists between the soil’s surface and air, between the listener and the listened to — it pulses, like a heartbeat, bringing rhythm to the hum of life beneath our feet. The detailed warp and weft of fabrics buried below ground develop landscape-like lines, contours and chasms. These textiles are like the soils of the plains that have been eroded, depleted, worn and torn over time, leaving pores, peds and grains. All the while, ants work industriously across the surface and beneath folds and layers, waiting for the rain to fall.
🔊 HEAR THE FULL VERSION OF SUBTERRANEAN SERENADE
Inverted Reflection, 2026, 4K video. No sound. Duration:
We miss so much of the intimate detail in the world in our busyness — the rush to be places, the pressure to meet deadlines. Today, you are probably trying to fit in a visit to the gallery amongst a schedule of other events and must-dos in your day. When was the last time you stopped and just listened…or really looked? What have you missed in the rush?
Tiny Worlds: The (de)Composers, 2026, macro video with soundtrack of field recordings and electronic sounds, tablet, printed fabric and wooden box.
Duration: 2 minutes
Beneath your feet, life teems. Tiny, microscopic creatures are at work. They’re the architects of our soils. Amongst them are springtails — tiny, arthropods known as engineers of the soil food web, driving decomposition, and nutrient cycling. There are other mesofauna like mites, and then the macrofauna — worms, and insects; and then the microfauna — the nematodes and protozoa. Together, they compose the foundation of the life we depend upon.
VISUAL WORKS
Future Kin (portrait series), 2025/26, photographic portraits by Sally Pittman with audio stories (QR codes)
- The Maynard family x 2 (including Roz) – WPCC
- Aunty Ruth Carney, Ashton xxx – WPCC/ WCC
- Minnie James and Rowan James – WPCC/ WCC
- Pat Skinner and Jess Skinner – WPCC/ WCC
- Uncle Tony Lees, Uncle Rusty xx, and Uncle Trevor Lees – WPCC/ WCC
- xxx
- Wunjunja Dancers – W
- SPACE Walkers
Sowing Circles, 2026, audio waveform detail from recordings of soil, machine sown by hand onto fabrics buried in soil for 8 weeks on the farm, ‘Willydah’, mounted in embroidery hoops.
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