Welcome to Carey West’s sound walk.
Carey’s walk explores The Arboretum and makes connections with the Ward neighbourhood in Guelph where she lives. All along the way, Carey is searching for belonging, her own. Her wanders in the woods are full of song until she meets ‘her tree,’ a quiet refuge.
Trigger warning: this story discusses domestic violence. Please take care of yourself as you listen and feel free to pause or discontinue the audio walk if you need too.
This is the virtual and accessible version of their sound walk for those who are unable to experience it onsite in The Arboretum.
Click on the sound files in the order they appear below and explore the image and video galleries while you are listening.

This piece is one of 4 participatory works created with and produced by Audio Artist Dawn Matheson as part of her How To Draw A Tree (“to draw” here meaning “to attract”) multimedia soundwalk project. Matheson worked with 4 students living with mental illness who paired with trees for a year-long creative, care-taking engagement culminating in immersive storied sound walks on the grounds of the Arboretum in Guelph, Canada and virtually, online designed by artist Richelle Forsey. (www.howtodrawatree.ca)