The London-based Natural History Museum has put together a sound walk for its new gardens, designed with blind and visually impaired audiences in mind. In it, you hear from scientists, staff and other experts, the stories contained within the gardens, as well as poems created by visually impaired young individuals.

This work is one of the shortlisted pieces for the Sound Walk September Awards 2024. 
Below, Harriet Fink talks about the work.

In July 2024 the Natural History Museum opened their newly designed gardens. The gardens tell the story of how life on earth has changed over time, from the days of the dinosaurs through to today. As you move through the gardens to the east of the building, you follow in the footsteps of evolution with geological and natural features creating an immersive gallery around you. The gardens to the West bring you to the present day and visitors are welcomed to a thriving garden filled with wildlife.
Used by the Museum’s scientists as a living laboratory to learn how we can best create biodiverse urban habitats the space provides relaxation, enjoyment and learning for visitors across all ages. With an abundance of stories to tell across the two gardens, spanning time, ecology, senses and science, the garden’s audio guide brings out the depth and fascination of these narratives with a curated journey of poetry, scientist and participant interviews and descriptions.
Dinosaur experts, geologists, gardeners and ecologists relate their excitement, and tell of the plants, rocks and specimens that the gardens are filled with. They relate stories of evolution, adaptation, and of nature in our world today, including details of bio-acoustic monitoring and research taking part in the gardens. 

The guide was created by Smartify with a primary audience of blind and partially blind visitors in mind, but provides a deeply resonant, informative, emotive journey for all audiences in a spectacular example of blindness gain – a theory developed by project consultant Dr Hannah Thompson to explain the creative, sensory, and innovative benefit to working from blind and partially blind perspectives.
The 13 poems in the guide were co-created by a group of five blind and partially blind young people working with poet Testament to respond to artefacts and scientific explanations held within the gardens and bring time to reflect and draw personal meaning from the artefacts and nature surrounding you in this 5 acre space.
The guide provides audio description and directional support that ensures the space is accessible. But rather than this information creating a siloed experience for blind and partially blind visitors, the guide’s creative, informative and warmly personable content ensures an enriching shared experience for all.

The winner and honourable mention of the SWS Awards 2024 will be announced around the start of 2025.