Thesis Paper [Trail]
Artist Statement
Presentation (and its divergence)
I believe that to move forward into a world that actively cares for Earth, we need to be taught to challenge the institutions around us; consciously considering our learned actions, and the wide reaching effects they collectively hold. In the unconventional staging of my thesis presentation and in the creation of a functioning object (rather than a gallery object), I am actively practicing this belief.
Throughout my educational background, I engaged in many alternative models of education. One that proved to have the most impact on my life was a school I attended that was democratically run by the students; treating children as equals, across age groups, and across the staff (faculty) divide. This environment fostered deep discussions, enabled exploration, and was empathetic to individual situations and needs, while simultaneously maintaining the needs of the school as a sustaining community (this includes nurturing the woods and fields that hosted the school itself).
I believe our future will require similarly empathetic and cooperative communities, calling for a degradation of our current hierarchical, unsympathetic systems.
Following these thoughts, for my thesis presentation I am hosting a potluck and staged discorese, rather than a defense. I want to encourage mental and bodily autonomy, discussion, and a reconsidering of the institution in which we are sitting.
The presentation of my work will be staged as an interview, rather than the traditional speech, modeling a discussion of ideas, rather than as a lecturing authority. Those attending are still invited to eat and move about freely during this time. All are welcome even if they do not stay for the presentation of work.
The Object
The physical object of my thesis project is a quilt depicting a sun on one side, and colorful abstract shapes on the other. It was made out of salvaged cottens that have been dyed with personally foraged natural dye stuffs. The batting (or interior stuffing) is a deeply dear comforter that has been in my family for 30 years.
The quilt is not be hung for display, but will be presented during this potluck as a working blanket, before being returned to my home to continue functioning accordingly.
The Concepts
Conceptually the creation of this work speaks to healing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), both within my own personal life, and in regards to the current state of Earth, who I read as a traumatized being.
I very strongly believe that Earth, and all other-than-human-beings, are beings in their own right, and that though they experience things differently from humans, all beings nonetheless experience the world fully. I feel that what we are currently witnessing in the global climate change [and all the magnitude of other things that that phrase entails] is relatable to the human experience of both trauma, and an ensuing PTSD.
It is also worth noting that when we consider Earth as a being made up of many beings, humans are included within that. The trauma we have inflicted on Earth through other beings is coming back to affect us in turn, as a part of Earth, creating a trauma cycle. For an explicit example, consider the traumatizing nature of hurricanes and other natural disasters.
Working through PTSD is a complicated and highly individualized process, but generally follows a rough path. From my own understandings, the first step is for the traumatized person to be earnestly listened to, to have a witness to their experience. The next is to mourn, and to work towards accepting and living with the effects their trauma has had in their lives. One of the last steps (with the understanding that healing is an ever ongoing process) is to restore a sense of functional autonomy to the person’s life.
I believe it is now our responsibility to help restore Earth’s autonomy. The first step for humans as healers is to begin to form relationships with the many other-than-human-beings around us, so we can begin to hear what they have to say, enabling us to act upon it.
Application of the Concepts
In this project I have begun my own processes of becoming a healer for/with Earth. In order to be able to hear Earth, I have worked to cultivate relationships while foraging for dye materials, both with the dye beings themselves, and with the other beings they are surrounded by. The best way to explain this relationship building, which is really quite difficult for me to describe, is by speaking of those who have taught me.
I have been listening to the written words of Robin Wall Kimmerer [Potawatomi], and the personal teachings of Sarah Sisestream [Hanis Coos]. Both of these teachers spoke of Indeginous approaches to foraging, and have taught me about communicating with a being before harvesting from them; asking the being for their express permission, and waiting for a response. This requires spending time by the being’s side, and listening to them with all of my senses.
Another great teacher for me has been the poet C.A.Conrad, whose written work throws our cultural boundaries to the wayside; employing playful rituals to inspire deep thought and poetry. Conrad’s way of working often places them (as ritual performer) in communication with other beings, physically and emotionally placing themselves as close as possible with those beings. Through their work my imagination has been enabled, and I am better prepared to explore the numerous ways of communication I’d normally ignore.
In these ways, I have found a greater imaginative empathy for the beings around me. The street looks so different when you suddenly miss your friends the dandelions that your landlord removed this morning, or feel the claustrophobic ways the oaks live, disconnected from their kin two blocks down.
When I cultivate a way of seeing Earth with empathy and sympathy, it becomes harder to justify the harmful daily living that has been normalized through anthropocentrism. I am under no illusions of grandeur, and recognize that I am still entrenched in these systems. I do not think I will ever fully live in the ways I aspire to, but I think it is important to strive towards a caring mode of living, for myself, for Earth, and for all who have, do, and will live here. I see my thesis undertaking as the first step in my personal understanding of how to live with care, knowledge, and respect.