It stands inbetween and betwixt, confused, lost, lonely, cut off, uncertain, afraid to touch down anywhere.
Making artwork is a way of finding and remembering my roots, that not only attach me firmly to the earth, but stretch into fluid connections of belonging and deep ancestral time. It is a way to honour the unseen and yet fundamental threads of interdependence that bind us all to existence, to all matter.
I am using the term ‘To Root the River’ in direct relationship to the body as the foundation for my practice-led research. The root and the river together become strong incarnate forces of multidimensional connectivity – co-operating to establish a radical re-positioning of the body. This body has origin, depth and breadth, is always utterly itself and yet entangled with the other-than-itself. It is this continuum of instinctual and sensual plurality of life shared and sustained where the rooted river body knows itself as nature and the other than human as kin.
As I approach embodied encounters and performative practices of ‘rooting the river’ - I employ technologies of friendship, qualities of curiosity (not knowing), attunement (listening), response-ability, respectfulness and play are important and also ‘an ability to harness a particular type of raw energy, a raw sexual presence… joy… a slowness of time’ (Golding, p.262-263).
There are parallel processes and materials interweaving in my research. I am using clay as a rooting force to anchor my feet and hands. I am exploring my own wild and free voice that roots the river in my body. But most specifically I am engaged in daily close encounters with my dog, Ludo, who I perceive as a rooted river body. Julian Jaynes’ ideas outlined in his thesis, The Origin of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976), act as a framework to investigate the original departure of human consciousness from nature and Ludo, as friend and teacher, opens the possibility to reconcile this split within me.
I take an animistic-feminist position and my art practice has three core concerns: To counteract the ‘up-rootedness’ and alienation experienced in our modern digitalised world, to establish horizontal relationships with the other than human, and to engage physically in the making of art. The rooting of the river in the body is essential as it places the body outside the matrixes of dominance and repression and the ‘anti-natural’ ideology that informs our culture (Haraway 1991, p.8).
REFERENCES
Golding, J (2019) Friendship. Available at:
https://www.academia.edu/36364536/Friendship?email_work_card=title (accessed 13/1/2020)
Haraway, D (1991), Simians, Cyborgs, and Women – The Reinvention of Nature, Free Association Books Ltd: London.
Ingram, C (2019) Facing Extinction. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9LI1Dv0DEg (accessed 9th March 2020)
FRAMING STATEMENT
I am exploring the term ‘To Root the River’ in direct relationship to the body, using various artistic methods to articulate the sensual continuity and rootedness of embodied consciousness. My practice has three core intentions: to counteract the ‘up-rootedness’ and alienation experienced in our modern digitalised world, to establish horizontal relationships with the other than human, and to engage physically in the making of art.
The root is firmly attached to earth, the river is fluid and yielding – together they become strong incarnate forces of multidimensional connectivity – co-operating to establish a radical re-positioning of the body. This body is like the natural systems of roots and rivers in that it is far reaching, has origin, depth and breadth, is always utterly itself and yet entangled with the other-than-itself. It is this continuum of instinctual and sensual plurality of life shared and sustained where the rooted river body knows itself as nature and the other than human as kin.
As I approach embodied encounters and performative practices of ‘rooting the river’ - I employ technologies of friendship, as outlined by Johnny Golding in her article Friendship(2019). At the core are qualities of curiosity (not knowing), attunement (listening), response-ability, respectfulness and play, and also ‘an ability to harness a particular type of raw energy, a raw sexual presence… joy… a slowness of time’ (Golding, p.262-263).
I am working with clay as a rooting-river force by making skins of my hands and feet. As I stretch and move within the clay skins, the human form shape-shifts - I then use these as moulds to make sculptural objects.
I am also engaged in close filmic and sound encounters with my dog, Ludo, who I perceive as a rooted river body. Julian Jaynes’ ideas outlined in his thesis, The Origin of Consciousness and the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind (1976), act as a framework to investigate the original departure of human consciousness from nature and Ludo, as friend and teacher, opens the possibility to reconcile this split within me.
As a parallel process I am exploring my own wild and free voice that roots the river in my body. I have been greatly inspired by the artist Ami Yamasaki, who performs experimentally with her voice by using a technique of echo-location. Her work enters the realm of quantum field theory as it points to the vibrational reality of existence, resonating with what the feminist theorist – Karen Barad – outlines in her theory of agential realism, which informs my practice.
The rooting of the river in the body is essential as it places the body outside the matrixes of dominance and repression and the ‘anti-natural’ ideology that informs our culture (Haraway 1991, p.8). It promotes sciences of liberation, response-ability and care. It does not abide in binary distinctions of gender but is rather a raw and vital sexual force. I situate my work as inter-disciplinary and performance based. Marcus Coates and Fiona Peek are two contemporary artists that influence this line of inquiry. Coates because his work invites us into a natural reality and offers an interconnection without the need for human/non-human dualism. Peeke because her performances and clay sculptures are so viscerally charged - fluid offerings made from what I perceive as the rooted-river body.
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