HUSH

We move through a world textured by sound; in music, in language, in silence that sometimes feels louder than words. Hush began as an attempt to listen to a very different world: the underwater soundscape of the ocean. Beneath the waves, sound is not just background noise; it is the very fabric of communication, orientation, and survival.

Yet this delicate soundscape is being redrawn by us, by ship engines, oil rigs, turbines, and the constant mechanical heartbeat of human industry. Through an immersive layering of light and sound, Hush invites visitors to inhabit this shifting world: to first experience the calm, familiar sounds of the sea, and then feel them crowded out by human-made noise. The blue light fades into unsettling red, the gentle clicks and songs of marine life become splintered by harsh, industrial rumble.

In this way, Hush falls squarely within the theme of soundscapes, not only as an artistic interpretation but as a deeply felt meditation on what it means to lose a sonic world. The exhibit asks: What happens when a species cannot hear its kin? When the ability to hear and be heard, which once defined life, becomes alien and hostile?

Hush is designed to be an emotive, immersive experience and has a deeply scientific foundation. The audios were carefully curated from established academic sound archives, drawing on real recordings of marine mammals and human-induced noise. The sequence itself was deliberately structured to mirror ecological and spatial realities: beginning with the sounds of marine life closest to the shore, then gradually moving toward species inhabiting deeper, open waters.

In contrast, the progression of human-made sounds starts from the seemingly mundane, the clatter of dishwashing and domestic activity, and intensifies into industrial sources like tidal turbines and offshore drilling rigs. This layering was not arbitrary, but built from research on how these noises enter, travel, and transform the marine environment. In doing so, Hush transforms data into a sensory narrative, grounding artistic expression in ecological fact and giving audiences a rare opportunity to experience what marine creatures might hear as their world changes around them.

Sound here is not merely something to hear; it is something to carry, mourn, and rethink. Hush turns data about ocean noise pollution into an emotional encounter, asking us to listen beyond our frequency, and, in doing so, to recognise that the soundscapes that shape identity, memory, and belonging are not uniquely human.

In a world often overwhelmed by the noise we create, Hush becomes both a question and an invitation: What would it mean to truly listen to what is being drowned out? And what stories might we hear if we allowed ourselves to tune back in?

Artist Bio

Shloka Uchil is an environmental studies graduate, and they firmly believe that one of the most decisive factors in determining whether people care about the environment is how it is communicated to them. How do you immerse someone in the experience so it feels real and personal? How do you help them understand why it matters, not just in the abstract but in their daily lives? And most importantly, how do you build empathy so that concern turns into meaningful engagement? This is where their passion for environmental communication stems from: using multimedia tools, whether visual storytelling, soundscapes, or written essays, to help people not only learn about the environment but also reflect on their relationship with it.