BreastNest

BreastNest (2025) was developed in response to an invitation to contribute to The Ridge Salon (as conceived, curated and hosted by Katja Hilevaara). Prompted by the Salon’s given stimulus - a field recording of the Dawn Chorus,  I began observing a family of House Sparrows living in the eaves of our home (my family home and the birds). Listening to their chirps, chirrups and churs, observing their movements, nest-building activities, and the biparental feeding of their altricial young. I became especially interested in the acoustic feedback loop between nestling and parent birds: the chicks cheep to signal hunger, and the parent birds provide food, forming a natural call-and-response system. This behaviour parallels the human breastfeeding dyad, where infant suckling triggers hormonal responses leading to milk release or the ‘let-down’. These reflections form the basis of BreastNest, which explores interspecies systems of care, corporeal communication, and inter-dependency. BreastNest was first presented as an intimate site-specific video installation at the Ridge Salon on the 9th of May 2025. 

Find further details about The Ridge Salon here: https://www.katjahilevaara.com/the-ridge-salon

Stills from BreastNest film (2025).