Research Background
Tallo-Billa, meaning ‘Humpback Whale’ in Kabi Kabi language, is the latest iteration of the Beeyali project. Conceived by Kabi Kabi artist Lyndon Davis, the project has been developed in collaboration with sound artist Leah Barclay and photographer Tricia King and brings together Indigenous knowledge, emerging science, creative practice, and innovative technology to visualise the calls of wildlife on Kabi Kabi Country using cymatics. Beeyali is a call to action, exploring creative practice to raise awareness for the numerous vulnerable species in Queensland. For Horizon Festival 2023, the Beeyali team invited an audience on a dusk ocean journey onboard Sunreef’s Whale One, to listen underwater and experience cymatic visualisations of humpback whale song.
Research Contribution
Tallo-Billa is a new work that involved a dusk performance with live hydrophones in the ocean, mixed into an immersive soundscape with cymatic visualisations of humpback whale song, projected live over Old Woman Island. The audience boarded Sunreef’s Whale One for an augmented reality experience at sunset, followed by a Welcome to Country with Lyndon Davis over the ocean before the performance. Tallo Billa utilises original Beeyali visualising techniques, playing underwater soundscapes through digital images to create distinctive audio-visual portraits with generative visualisations activated by hydrophones. The performance was realised as a live mix of ocean soundscapes, live hydrophones and Kabi Kabi stories activated by live cymatic projections over the island. This research is designed to explore human and non-human relationships that help us comprehend and care for our changing marine ecosystems.
Research Significance
Tallo Billa was commissioned for Horizon Festival 2023, the Sunshine Coast’s leading multi- arts festival. The event was presented as an ocean field trip and live performance, both ticketed events sold out within three days and had extensive waitlists for the duration of the festival. Tallo Billa has been funded by the Australian Government through Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body, through a project grant through the Emerging and Experimental arts panel awarded to Leah Barclay, Lyndon Davis, and Tricia King. This project was also supported by Sunshine Coast Council’s Arts & Heritage Levy, Sunreef, and ANAT (the Australian Network for Art and Technology). In 2024, Tallo Billa was presented at the Ecoacoustics Symposium at Melbourne Museum.