These images represent two separate but related performances.  The photograph on the left represents my practice of merging body and landscape in the woods of Rabun County, Georgia.  My intention in this practice is to blur the boundaries between nature and self in order to explore the quiet unfolding relationship between the body, earth and intuition. The image on the right represents a performance in which my body is inserted into a studio-based drawing, Woods (Rabun, Georgia), 2009.  The drawing, an energetic imprint of the woods of Rabun, Georgia, is made from predominately manufactured and man-made materials.  In both performances, the body mirrors and mimics its surroundings,  further highlighting the distance between urban environments and remote organic spaces.  

Woods (Rabun, Georgia) mixed media/ collage on paper

My process involves traveling to remote woods in North Georgia  and opening myself to connecting to place; to the plants, animals, soil, rocks and leaves.  I open my senses to receive the distinct fecund scents, the rush of wind through the cells in my skin, the call of birds and tremble of wings, the chorus of leaves and the bare earth under my feet.  I set the intention of feeling and sensing the silent conversation between things and insert my own body and being into the dialogue.  I can feel the rhythms and cycles of nature and how my body innately understands and matches its own breathing to the breath of the landscape. What can feel like thick impenetrable boundaries between inner-self and outer world begin to soften as self and environment bleed into one another.  My body knows and remembers the earth.  I employ different techniques to facilitate the connection:  I press my chest against the soil to feel the heartbeat of the earth; paste leaves and sticks on my skin to feel the flesh of the world; and sometimes use pigment applied to my own body to mimic the bark of a tree.  I am interested in the unfolding relationship between self and nature. 

When I return to my urban-based studio, I attempt to recreate my experience in the woods.  I use man-made materials such as felt tip markers, stickers, metallic paint, processed wood and neon color, as well as organic materials such as collected sticks, sand, soil, grass, bark and organic inks to explore the distance between and intersection of manufactured landscape and organic environments.  At times, I reinsert my own body in the piece to further highlight the distance between urban and remote spaces. Through a process of deep surrender I use my body and energy to reengage the sense of connection I felt while in the organic world within an artificial environment.  

Filed under:
2-D, Performance by KarenC