My presentation
Squirrealism and Urban Ecologies: Listening through Psychometry
ARTISTic Symposium · University of Sunderland · Online · 18 February 2026
How do we sense the environment? How does the environment sense us?
In this presentation, I shared how intuition and touch inform my research-creation practice, Squirrealism. Beginning with my relationships with neighbourhood grey squirrels, I traced how walking, foraging and working with salvaged materials have led me towards interspecies listening and urban forest conservation.
Through works including Holobionts: Making and Living through Squirrealism, Molecular, Rituals of Care and Memory of a Thousand Seasons, I explored the relationships between care, containment and coexistence in human-modified environments.
My approach to psychometry centres on cultivating receptivity: attending to the images and sensations that arise through touch, and considering how materials might invite different ways of relating to the more-than-human world.
Carollyne Yardley. Memory of a Thousand Seasons, 11″ X 11″ x 13″, Garry oak sawdust, found plastic tree fencing, 2025.
Featured work: Memory of a Thousand Seasons
Combining Garry oak sawdust with found orange plastic fencing, Memory of a Thousand Seasons considers ecological survival and connection across imposed boundaries. It asks what happens when structures intended to protect also divide and contain.
Overview
ARTISTic Symposium: Re-Normalising Interspecies Communication
Presented by: University of Sunderland
Date: 18 February 2026
Time: 6 am–12 pm PST
Location: Online via Zoom
Tickets: £10, with free tickets available for those experiencing financial hardship
View event details and tickets on Eventbrite
About the symposium
Join artists and musicians who use interspecies communication—including telepathy and psychometry—in their practices to co-create with other species.
Have you ever wondered about communicating with nonhuman animals, plants and even landscapes? It happens daily in people’s lives around the world, but has been marginalised and pushed to the edges of acceptability in many places.
ARTISTic (ARTIST interspecies communicators) invites you to explore the co-creation of artworks that surprise, offer multispecies viewpoints, and consider more connected and sustainable ways of living.*
What to expect
This gathering explores re-normalising interspecies communication in societies that have abandoned or excluded it.
- Meet artists and musicians sharing sculpture, installation, performance, activism and art-jewellery.
- Explore creative approaches to repairing relationships with other species and landscapes.
- Discover interspecies communication as an element of creativity to be re-embraced.
Speakers
The symposium brings together ARTISTic—a group of artists, creatives and arts-based researchers from around the world.**
- Dr. M.J. Barrett — Opening remarks
Whose “goal is to nurture ways of knowing and being where the more-than-human (natural) world is respected as intentional, intelligent and communicative.” - Cheryl L’Hirondelle (she/her) — Highlighted guest artist
Her work investigates and articulates the dynamism of nehiyawin (Cree worldview) in contemporary time-place. Her practice incorporates Indigenous languages, audio, video, virtual reality, scent, music and audience participation to create immersive environments towards “radical inclusion.” - Inga Hamilton (she/her)
Autistic artist and PhD researcher co-creating performative art-jewellery with other species. - Ute Hörner (she/her)
Artist and Professor of Multispecies Storytelling. - Franziska Lauber (she/her), MA
Specialist in animal ethics in art practice and multispecies communicator. - Dr. Annie Morrad (she/her)
Musician and multimedia artist working with avian co-creators. - Carollyne Yardley (she/her), MFA
Multimedia artist communicating with Garry oak trees. - Brigid Mary Prain (she/her)
Filmmaker and musician co-creating with the Amazon rainforest and cloud forests of the Andes.
Breaks and accessibility
The symposium is neurodivergent-friendly. Attendees are encouraged to practise self-care and take breaks whenever needed.
Talks are short, with three-minute moments of reflection between speakers, featuring other species. Scheduled breaks include:
- 15:50 GMT: 10-minute comfort break.
- 17:25 GMT: One-hour nourishment break.
Tickets and joining information
Tickets are £10. Free tickets are available for those experiencing financial hardship; please contact the organiser through Eventbrite. No one will be turned away due to lack of funds.
The event will take place on Zoom, with a joining link sent to ticketholders beforehand.
View event details and tickets on Eventbrite
Acknowledgements
* None of the interspecies communication methods used are new, nor are these artists the first to use them. Some are shared by Indigenous and marginalised peoples. Others stem from neurodivergent being, personal energetic practices, or the practices of professional animal communicators around the world.
** We presenters from the Global North recognise our privilege, including access to education, technology and healthcare built on the oppression of others, which supports us in creating our art practices.
