Jen Valender is a Naarm/Melbourne based artist whose academic background is in visual arts and sociology, which drives her research into the cross-sections between art and multispecies relations in the midst of ecological crisis. Her site-responsive practice studies sensory networks between non-human and human animals through the creation of performances, sculptures and sound artworks that establish an embodied connection with the landscape. Recent projects have seen Valender enquire into bovine ethology and the sonic perceptions of Australian pythons. In 2023, her theory of ‘cross-dissonance’ – used to describe the difficulty of self-positioning as a practice-based artist researcher – was published by The Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools’ Journal FINDINGS.
