Mouths of the Caves, United Kingdom

Our concept and inspiration

From the Mouths of the Caves, Listening to Hear Another Island’s Song explores how knowledge can be exchanged across island environments through visual art, sound, and community engagement. Drawing inspiration from two elemental spaces – an ice cave in Svalbard and a sea cave on Iona – the project uses the materiality and symbolism of these sites as starting points for thinking with and through island ecologies. It connects children in Longyearbyen with their peers on Iona & Mull, inviting them to explore how Scottish and Arctic island communities are linked by shared and dynamically changing oceanic systems and the unfolding narratives of climate change.

Our Artistic Approach

The project will be delivered with Artica Svalbard, involving early collaboration with our project scientists to co-design school workshops across both locations. We will use deep listening as methodology and concept; through sound walks, hydrophone recordings, storytelling & drawing to create interconnected visual & sound-based artworks. We will work full-time for one month on Svalbard and one month on Iona/Mull, leading workshops and collecting visual and sound material to exchange and share through online platforms, exhibitions, and community events.

Our Audience

The main focus of the project will be school children, young people, their families and local communities, in both locations. The project will also reach regional and national audiences as it will be shared publicly through different formats during and after the project period.

Our Timeline & Development Process

The project will begin with a pilot Gaelic-language workshop with children on Iona and Mull, producing visual and audio material to introduce the Hebridean islands in Svalbard. In spring 2026, we will deliver a month of schools workshops at Artica Svalbard and Longyearbyen Skole, with outcomes shared immediately with the public at Artica, and online. In summer 2026, we will run a month of schools workshops in Iona and Mull, sharing this work at Iona Village Hall, and online. Finally, all the project’s outcomes will be shared as a creative resource through an online archive and downloadable booklet/toolkit.

Our Expected Outcomes

The project will create space to learn more about how Scottish and Arctic island communities are linked by shared and dynamically changing oceanic systems, and the unfolding narratives of climate change. Each month-long residency will be documented and shared on social media as a live project, with public sharings at Artica Svalbard and Iona Village Hall.

Sound works created with children will be released online in spring/summer 2026 as short audio walks, connecting audiences with island seascapes and stories. A full public exhibition will follow in winter 2026 at Artica Svalbard and at the Scottish Association for Marine Science (date TBC), in collaboration with local partners and communities.

The process will also be captured in a downloadable booklet/toolkit, inspired by NAARCA’s Creative Climate Champions, providing a creative resource for young people, educators, and communities interested in climate, coastlines, and collaborative arts.

Our Project Goals

• Create space to understand how Scottish and Arctic island communities are linked by shared, changing ocean systems and climate change.
• Use art as a bridge between science and everyday life.
• Support children to explore their relationship with the sea and their islands.
• Facilitate exchange of coastal knowledge between children in different island communities.
• Use creative, sensory practices to build empathy for the ocean and kinship in the face of climate change.
• Enable children to express experiences of island life through ecology, cultural identity, and language (including Gaelic and Svalbard’s many languages).
• Amplify children’s voices, often missing in environmental debates, through a living archive of shared ocean knowledge, exhibited in Svalbard and Scotland.
• Share children’s artworks and recordings within their communities
• Encourage intergenerational learning and collective responsibility for marine biodiversity and ocean care.
• Honour and integrate local knowledge from Iona and Svalbard to deepen understanding of these fragile ecosystems.

Visit the project website to learn more: https://www.fromthemouthsofthecaves.uk/