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Faculty of Arts and Science Professor Laura Jean Cameron and environmental artist/writer, and former geography PhD student, Sophie Anne Edwards recently organized a two-day workshop event Learning to Listen to Rivers. The event was held at the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts on the banks of Lake Ontario.

“I attended a workshop Sophie offered last winter called Writing Like an Ecosystem,” explains Dr. Cameron (Geography and Planning). “This workshop and publication of Sophie’s debut book of poetry Conversations with the Kagawong River led me to organize the department’s first ‘Geopoet in Residence” that ran from January 15 to 27 out of which developed the two-day workshop.”

River response improvisation: musician Chris Brown at the piano, members of the DAN School Improv Ensemble, Chantal Thompson, Matt Rogalsky, students Javier Viloria-Garcia and Francis Gailiunas, and three other workshop participants, Rob Willow, Naomi Moon and Jenny Lapp. Photo credit: Janine Larsen 

Funding and support for the event was provided by the Office of the Vice-Principal Research (with thanks to Dr. Betsy Donald), and the Department (Dr. Melissa Lafrenière, head). Dr. Donald reflects that, “This illuminating event of creativity underscores the value of humanities and in particular music and poetry to deepen our understanding of the natural world. The event inspired participants to broaden research connections across disciplines for future transformations.”  

“Sophie was in Kingston from January 15-27, meeting with students, giving readings and talks, as well as acting as lead facilitator for the two-day, interdisciplinary Learning to Listen to Rivers workshop. The workshop was interdisciplinary from its initial conception and co-created in discussion with Sophie, Dr. Sebastian De Line, Associate Curator, Care and Relations (Agnes Etherington Art Centre), Dr. Lindsay Borrows (Faculty of Law) and Dr. Laura Thomson, glaciologist (Department of Geography and Planning).” Dr. Cameron adds.

Edwards explains the intention of the event was to “spend time together, amongst others who listen in different ways, and/or are thinking about/with ecosystems, learning to listen, pondering how ethical, collaborative, respectful relations with our more-than-human relations look, feel, sound, translate; and how leaning into, really sitting with ecosystems as animate, alive, and agential, can transform our various systems, approaches and understandings of the world.”

Participants explore the instrument made with cattail cordage crafted by professors Matt Rogalsky and Laura Jean Cameron. Pictured are - background (l to r): writer Catherine Bush, geopoet Sophie Anne Edwards, Lindsay Borrows (Queen’s Faculty of Law). Front: Gabriel Poon (Department of Geography and Planning). Photo credit: Bridgette Paisley

“The ethos for our time together is one of listening and responsiveness, rather than finely defined step-by-step instructions,” Edwards explains. “While we were all invited to create, and to share, we were not focused on creating finished pieces or performances: rather, we leaned into process, loosening the static boundaries of productivity. We asked questions that invite long consideration, and perhaps never a finished answer. We focused on (ecosystem) values: process, relationship, interspecies interdisciplinarity, multi-directionality, multi-vocality, slow time, fluidity, agency, collaboration, interdependence, responsibility/responsiveness and reciprocity.”

Thirty-eight participants came from Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, and several other communities in the area, as well as students, faculty and community members from Kingston and Queen’s University. This diverse group included artists, musicians, writers/poets, community-based researchers and organizers, filmmakers, and several academic researchers from across the arts and sciences, public health, law and education.

Along with Dr. Gordon Smith and the amazing sound team at the Bader, Dr. De Line, Dr. Borrows and Dr. Thomson, other contributors included:

• Hugh Christopher Brown, songwriter, musician, producer, Wolfe Island Records
• Dr. Laura Murray, Belle Park Project (Departments of English and Cultural Studies)
• Dr. Dorit Naaman, Belle Park Project (Film and Media Studies)
• Dr. Matt Rogalsky, composer, sound artist and musicologist (DAN School of Drama and Music and Film and Media Studies)

Emmanda Zhang (Department of Geography and Planning) exploring one of the prompts designed by Sophie Edwards. Photo credit: Cassandra Nolan (Department of Geography and Planning) 

When asked about next steps, participants all expressed an interest in continuing the conversations through other gatherings, research constellations, sharing research, and through collaborations, a number of which are already bubbling up. For those that were unable to attend and would like to be connected to the ongoing conversations, please email cameron@queensu.ca or sophieanneedwards@gmail.com. Copies of Edwards’s book Conversations with the Kagawong River are available at Novel Idea in Kingston, and more information can be found .