"The Social Lives of Grass" (2018) by Dr. Jeremy Mayall and Sebastian J. Lowe
The Social Lives of Grass was filmed on the 28 March, 2018, in and around the city of Kirikiriroa/Hamilton in Aotearoa/New Zealand. We filmed over 20 different types of grass in both urban and non-urban environments, in an attempt to capture the importance of grass as a focal point (nexus) to all life, human or otherwise. We have focused not only on what grasses sound like, but what goes on audibly around the grasses, that is to say, their ‘social lives’. The human ear has the ability to focus in on individual sounds within an acoustic context, for example, we can sit beside a river and shift our focus between the sounds of the river to the birds in the trees, or we can walk into a crowded room and differentiate individuals from within the collective body of human voices. As we move through the world, our perceptions change and sounds as we know them are fleeting. This is especially relevant in our quickly changing world, where we are becoming more and more inundated with human-induced sound signatures that affect, for better or for worse, the relationships between ourselves and our environment(s). Our film offers listeners an audible ‘snapshot’ into sound fabrics that comprise our city of Kirikiriroa/Hamilton. If we take the time to consciously listen to what is going on around us, we are able to acknowledge and strengthen our understanding of what it means to be part of our shared world.