Andrés Porras Verwaayen Q&A
By Ado Nkemka
Photo courtesy Andrés Porras Verwaayen. A close up of a man (Andrés Porras Verwaayen) with dark hair and a tapered cut wearing sunglasses with black frames. He's standing in (what seems to be) a parking lot with his left thumb and index fingers on his chin, in a seemingly pensive state. Behind him, and out of focus, are parked cars and apartment buildings.
Ahead of our March 24th soundwalk, New Works Marketing Intern Ado Nkemka interviewed local teacher and artist Andrés Porras Verwaayen. This year, Andrés returns to lead his second soundwalk with us titled “On Listening and Being Heard.” Register here and read this Q&A to learn more about Andrés and the inspiration behind this upcoming soundwalk. This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Ado: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
Andrés: I'm a Grade 5 and 6 teacher. That's my day job and I like to dabble in artsy stuff on the side. So that might look like a short film, or doing some art, or composing soundtracks. I came to New Works, because I was really tickled by the idea of the soundwalk. I'd never even heard of the concept before. But as I dug into it, and found some resources, it seemed like a really, really cool idea. In Grade 4 we do a unit on sound, so I've been a little bit familiar with it. But what I love about the soundwalk is the idea of mixing what you hear and what you experience. And that's why this soundwalk is called On Listening and Being Heard and about the human voice. We'll be talking about different voices. And not only thinking about “Who do we hear?” but also “Whose voices are not heard?” I'm really excited about that.
Can you describe last year’s soundwalk (The sounds of wellness)?
That was actually such a fun soundwalk. And we did it in Dalhousie, and we did a loop. In that loop, we experienced different soundscapes and talked a lot about the noise of cars, and how that affects people's perceptions and stress levels. We also talked about nature and how it can help you feel good and well, and tied it a little bit to my own experience with some mental health struggles that I've had, and it was a really fun experience. It was very impactful. The cool thing about it was my wife came with me on that soundwalk. We've done that walk before and she said “it's interesting because I never considered some of the things that you brought up.”
Could you get a little bit more into how you got into soundwalking?
I know that when I see an idea that I like, kind of on the artsy side of things, or off the beaten path, I'll find a way to bring that into my teaching practice. So they both kind of feed into each other. And so the idea of the soundwalk came as a result of New Works looking for people to lead it, and researching more into it, and tying it with some of the experiences I had teaching that unit (Grade 4).
What is, to you, the distinction between a soundwalk and a regular walk?
I think the distinction between a soundwalk and a regular walk has to do with intentionality.
Where did your idea for On Listening and Being Heard come from?
What I wanted to do with this soundwalk (that was different from the other one) was take a moment to elevate some voices that society hasn’t heard. And talk about how different spaces will affect how well you are heard, or how you can hear something but not listen in. I really wanted to dig into the human voice as an instrument of change, and an instrument of agency, and how it's just so versatile.
What are you most looking forward to, on this walk?
Leading the last soundwalk, I got to meet some really cool people. I was technically the one leading it, but there was so much that I gained from it. And so many new perspectives that I hadn't even considered. It was a very wonderful, wholesome, broadening of my horizons, just as a human. So if I'm looking forward to something, it's just having that opportunity to meet some cool people, broaden my horizons, and get some new perspectives.
