Kim V. Goldsmith, Songs of Sowing & Reaping
What’s it mean to be a good ancestor?
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, creative acoustic-ecological fieldwork on the Maynard family farm in the Narromine Shire, and with those who keep and nurture traditional culture in the Trangie community, on Wongaibon Country. Multi-disciplinary artist, Kim V. Goldsmith slips beneath the vibrating surfaces of the region’s familiar landscapes of the Western Plains, searching for the sonic pulse of life within – as it is now and may be for our future kin.
The works in Songs of Sowing & Reaping hold the movement and sonic memories of the day they were captured, along with the ecological echo of the plains. Entangled in co-dependency, humans and more-than-humans have collaborated on many of the works in this exhibition. Photographer Sally Pittman worked with Goldsmith to create a series of portraits of those in the community passing on knowledge of these places. You can also hear their voices and messages of hope for the future.
EXHIBITIONS HOME PAGE · FUTURE KIN AUDIO STORIES · PROJECT BACKGROUND
[WPCC – Western Plains Cultural Centre, Dubbo; WCC – Wungunja Cultural Centre, Trangie]
SOUNDSCAPES
[WPCC] A Song of Sowing & Reaping, 2026, experimental soundscape composition of seasonal, on-farm field recordings and synthesised sound. Duration: 16 minutes
A Song of Sowing & Reaping is the hero work of this collection of works. It is a multi-track composition of recordings gathered from visits to the farm and surrounding areas over 18 months, capturing winter, spring, summer and autumn. Both present and passive, durational field recordings were made of the geophony, biophony and anthropophony* of this place 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 moves through the seasons; the busy times and the quiet times on the farm. You’re simply invited to listen.
As the seasons cycle, so too do the sounds of the farm and the landscape it is part of. 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 kangaroos 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 of the more-than-human soundmakers have disappeared forever. Those that remain dominate the soundscapes of the plains. More are destined to fade out in the face of a changing climate and diseases like H5N1 bird flu.
* Brought into use by soundscape ecologist and musician Bernie Krause, these are three categories of sound that make up a soundscape.
[WPCC] Anywhere on Earth, 2025, experimental soundscape composition and wall-mounted vessels and 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.
[WCC ] A Song for Future Kin, 2026, soundscape composition of field recorded sounds from the Goan Waterhole at Trangie and the Wugunja Dancers with clapsticks, in a ceramic vessel with River Red Gum foliage. Duration: 7 minutes
The heartbeat of this soundscape is the acoustic recordings and sub-surface vibrations created by the Wungunja Dancers – their feet moving in time through the sand to the life-affirming rhythm of the clapsticks, each step and gesture infused with the stories of Wongaibon culture. A Song for Future Kin weaves together these stories, told through dance, with those of the Country on which they are performed, entwining and meshing together the vibrations of humans and more-than-humans. A new story is being created in the process – one of hope for the future of this community, the plains and the waterways of Wongaibon Country. A song for future kin.
This work is a collaboration with the Trangie community and the non and more-than-human species of the Goan Waterhole at Trangie. The recordings in this work have been made with the permission of Elders and the community.
VIDEOS
[WPCC] Sentinels, 2026, LiDAR videos of paddock tree on the farm, ‘Willydah’. No sound. Duration: 3 minutes
Spending time with these giants of the plains is a privilege. Feeling the cool of their shade on a hot day, listening to the breeze rustle their leaves, touching the tears of sap leaking from fissures in their bark. They have stood like sentinels over a century’s worth of change. Their declining health tells the story of that time.
[WPCC] 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
[WPCC] Silence of an Inverted Reflection, 2026, 4K video. No sound. Duration: 8 minutes
We miss much of the intimate detail in the world in the urgency to be places and the pressure to meet deadlines. Today, you are probably trying to fit in a visit to the gallery in 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? What’s your reflection telling you?
[WPCC] Tiny Worlds: The (de)Composers, 2026, experimental soundscape and macro video filmed with microscope lens, a tablet, printed fabric and vintage wooden box. Duration: 2 minutes
Beneath your feet, life teems with miniscule and microscopic creatures at work creating the life within our soils; 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 also other mesofauna like mites, and then there are the worms and insects — the macrofauna. What you won’t see without assistance are the microfauna, the nematodes and protozoa. Together, they compose the foundation of the life we depend upon.
VISUAL WORKS
[WPCC/ WCC] Future Kin (portrait series), 2025/26, photographic portraits by Sally Pittman with audio stories recorded by Kim V. Goldsmith (accessed in the gallery via QR codes)
- River Red Gum, Goan Waterhole, photographic print [WPCC ONLY]
- Bruce Maynard and his children (left to right: Hannah, Bruce, Ella and Liam), Willydah, Narromine, photographic print [WPCC ONLY]
- The Maynard family (left to right; Bruce, Liam, Roz, Hannah and Ella), Willydah, Narromine, photographic print [WPCC ONLY]
- Aunty Ruth Carney, Ashton O’Neill and Christian O’Neill, Trangie, photographic print
- Aunty Ruth Carney and Kim V. Goldsmith, Trangie, photographic print [WPCC ONLY]
- Minnie James and Rowan James, Trangie, photographic print
- Minnie James and Rowan James walking, Trangie, photographic print [WPCC ONLY]
- Pat Skinner and Jess Skinner, Trangie, photographic print
- Pat Skinner and Jess Skinner laughing, Trangie, photographic print [WPCC ONLY]
- Uncle Tony Lees, Uncle Russell Gale, and Uncle Trevor Lees, Trangie, photographic print
- Tanya McMaster, Bilarnhi Kirkwood and Nikeata McMaster, Trangie, photographic print
- Wungunja Dancers, photographic print
- Wungunja Dancers, photographic print
- Wungunja Dancers, photographic print
- Wungunja Dancers, photographic print
[WPCC] Sowing Circles, 2026, 19 pieces, machine sewn lines on partially decomposed cotton fabrics mounted in timber embroidery hoops. Dimensions variable.
Over almost 150 years, European farming practices have re-shaped the Western Plains. Aerial photography and satellite imagery show a land carved up, fenced into angular parcels, cleared, levelled and ploughed into submission to produce food and fibre for a fledgling nation. Life above and below the ground has greatly changed over that time. The country’s ancient soils have become increasingly fragile despite the use of fertilisers and chemicals aimed at increasing productivity and profitability.
Sowing Circles has been made in collaboration with the soils of the Western Plains, with cotton fabric, a fibre grown in the region since the late 1960s. Lines influenced by the mark of humans on the landscape today and soil sounds as audio waveforms are machine-sewn on the fabrics. The soil recordings are from the Maynard family farm — a place that’s been defined over many decades by agro-ecological practices such as minimal soil disturbance.
EXHIBITIONS HOME PAGE · FUTURE KIN AUDIO STORIES · PROJECT BACKGROUND
