Charlotte Whyte is a singer, geographer, and lifelong student of poetic recitation. The daughter of poet-philosopher David Whyte and the psychiatrist Leslie Cotter, Charlotte was raised in a home where language was both art and medicine. Her life and work are rooted in the living currents of word, song, and service.
Apprenticed to the ancient and evolving tradition of sung poetry, Charlotte has studied voice and performance with the visionary theologian and spiritual singer Nóirín Ní Riain, and has collaborated closely with her sons, Owen and Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin, continuing a lineage of sacred sound and embodied storytelling. These relationships have shaped her commitment to song not only as art but as a means of connection — to one another, to the unseen, and to the earth.
Charlotte recently completed a Master of Science in Geography at Concordia University in Tio’tia:ke/Montreal. With a focus on long-term ecological and cultural changes in northern coastal environments, she is deeply interested in the ways in which land, belonging, and artistry are interwoven.
At the heart of Charlotte’s practice is the belief that land, song, and community do not exist in separate domains, but are entwined ways of knowing. Whether through fieldwork, performance, or shared ritual, she seeks to communicate the sense of deep-time between people and place. Now, Charlotte is turning more fully toward the life that has always quietly called her: one where land, voice, and community are a daily practice.