Recording the sounds of Punshilok forest

Chaoba Thiyam has been working on “Body and Being” for a decade. The Witness is enabling him to expand it with a whole new perspective and determination to share it around the world. A group of youth, including performance artists, musicians, trekkers, filmmakers, and ecologists, formed the Wildlife and Habitat Protection Society (WAHPS) in Manipur’s Punshilok Forest in 2003. Today Punshilok, which means “Spring of Life,” has been reforested and occupies a unique place in terms of its biodiversity and the cultural and religious beliefs that surround it. This project is recording all of the seasons through sound and audio/visual to witness nature’s changing processes. It is also incorporating the human body (e.g. body listening, movement, and life resonance art), as well as ancient folk wisdom, poetry, music, and other mediums, to witness and listen deeply to the environment.