Living Geographies: Co-creating Sentient Landscapes through Art, Sound, and Story

Abstract (English)

Living Geographies is a multi-model web project currently in development, which aims to show through art how Indigenous landscapes that are perceived as “wild” and “empty” for outsiders is full of life, nonhuman persons and meaning for the communities who inhabit them. The project which is designed together with communities and indigenous artists shows examples from two sentient geographies, Siberia and Amazons, which constitute two important regions where most theories about animism, shamanism and human- nonhuman relations derive in literature (Hallowell 1926, Ingold 2000, Viverios de Castro 1998, Descola 2015). By letting users navigate these areas on a symbolic map (illustration) which shows videos, photographs, sounds, 360 photos and interviews from the communities, the project aims to use arts and digital media to help outsiders see these living geographies from a multispecies perspective.
In this presentation, I will show visual examples from the website and reflect on how using visual and sensory methods that extend beyond written materials—made the research more meaningful for the communities involved and deepened their engagement. In particular, the use of 360-degree video helped capture the sensory richness of human–nonhuman interactions with the landscape, while also encouraging community members to take an active role in shaping the project. The paper aims to question how anthropological knowledge is produced and shared and how it can be expanded beyond academic institutions into more collaborative and creative forms. This doesn’t only allow communities to feel more engaged with the research but also helps researchers disseminate their work to broader audiences.