Biggin Hill is a small airport nestled in the Kentish countryside, Southeast England. It is the preferred landing space for Russian Oligarchs, looking for discrete and easy access to the UK’s financial hub in the City of London. Residing near Biggin Hill, I discerned how birdsong and ecological tones are constantly dampened by the low drone of private jets and passenger helicopters flying to and from London.

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However, since the ban on Russian-linked flights and the UK government’s seizure of private jets in the wake of the Ukraine invasion, the interminable rumble of air traffic has softened. This field recording captures the reawakened sounds of nature close to Biggin Hill airport; demarcating the mellifluous songs of life against the dissonant noise of corruption, greed and violence.

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This soundscape was part of the “Close The Sky” exhibition at The Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery, New York, consisting of multiple artists’ voices in solidarity with the victims of the war in Ukraine. All income from the exhibition was donated to the Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund.