Yolande Harris

Yolande Harris is an artist, musician and researcher exploring ideas of sonic

consciousness. Through audio-visual installations, walks and performances she creates

intimate visceral experiences that heighten awareness of our relationship to the

environment. Her projects explore respect and advocacy for the environment and to other

species, offering an oceanic perspective through sound. Informed by her early life in

coastal southwest England, Yolande has lived and worked throughout Europe and the US,

presenting her work worldwide in venues ranging from intimate concerts and walks to

international museums including the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, the House of World

Cultures Berlin and the Exploratorium in San Francisco. She studied with pioneers of

experimental music and sound art Lou Harrison, Alvin Lucier, Pauline Oliveros, David

Dunn, Peter Sculthorpe, Louis Andriessen and Michel Waiswisz and completed her PhD

on ‘Sound, Environment and Sonic Consciousness’. She has collaborated with lead

scientists in marine mammal bioacoustic to create projects on underwater sound that

bring us closer to this inaccessible environment, encouraging connection, understanding

and empathy with the ocean. Teaching is central to her practice, Yolande was assistant

professor at Rhode Island School of Design and currently teaches digital media art and

electronic music at the University of California Santa Cruz and San Jose State University.

She lives, works and researches between the ocean, redwoods and silicon valley in Santa

Cruz, California.