Kaffe Matthews (b.1961, Essex; lives London) is a composer and
sound artist who regularly makes and performs works live throughout
the world. She also creates sonic and interactive sculptural forms,
for example Sonic
Bed_London in which a visitor lies, at once hearing and
feeling specially made music move all over their body.
Before becoming an artist Matthews studied zoology. She chose to
view the Galápagos primarily from the ocean, diving with and
filming hammerhead sharks. The wonder of these prehistoric
creatures and their perilous conservation status encouraged her to
focus her research on their patterns of behaviour. During two weeks
at the Charles Darwin Research Station, she met with local
fishermen and scientists and was introduced to the California-based
research programme continuing through the marine conservation
project Migramar. In 2011 she went to UC Davis, California, to meet
the team of researchers who use acoustic tracking devices to follow
hammerhead sharks through the Pacific.
Matthews has used this data, generously supplied by the
scientists, to create a three-dimensional sound work that evolves
in relation to the sharks' movements through the deep waters. She
describes it as 'a piece whose melodies, rhythms, noises, chords,
filters and processes are driven by the daily patterns of their
movement, the underwater conditions and topography'. Matthews also
made underwater recordings which she used in a music-making
workshop on Isabela Island to encourage schoolchildren to develop a
greater sense of the sound world around them. Since the Galápagos,
much of Matthews' work has been based in outdoor
environments.
