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The MAEL (Meeting At Eye Level) project aims to raise awareness of the rights of indigenous wildlife in cultivated landscapes, where human activities endanger their habitats. At its core, its intention is to generate new knowledge about how to relate to wildlife in a way that supports these rights. The project's approach operates at eye level as a performative decolonisation practice. The research question aims to identify the specific relational dynamics that emerge from interspecies encounters, e. g. when a member of the species homo sapiens encounters a member of the species brown hare. Sometimes, mutual awareness emerges, prompting both parties to pause and acknowledge the presence of the other. The methodological challenge lies in capturing the pulsating, ephemeral figure that comes to life in these rare moments. My language-based approach to this challenge centres on the practice of 'noticing and noting', which encompasses the act of recording situational details (i. e. taking field notes) and the process of 'inner note-taking'. The latter is rooted in introspection, a psychological method for systematically documenting one's inner processes during an occurrence. This involves paying attention to everything that occurs in the mind: what comes in through the senses, and what thoughts and emotions are triggered by the sensory input. Based on these notes, the relational figure is drafted as a language sculpture. Ultimately, the MAEL practice seeks to contribute to a transformation that enables a new kind of interspecies relationship — one based on encounters at eye-level.
