I Choose to Remember

For me, it all comes back to the same place. Oppressive paradigms, war, scarcity, climate change, capitalism, all forms of supremacy and domination - they all stem from an initial disconnection from the Earth. For when we are connected to the Earth we are part of life. Not just beneficiaries of what we can get from life - we are life itself.

Our Ancestors knew this, but we have forgotten - and that forgetfulness manifests as trying to dominate life. As attempting to extract from life in order to get our needs met. As a complete disregard for not only the life that surrounds us but for the life within us. I don’t think that this is something judge, I think it’s just the reality of where humanity is right now. I think we’re becoming increasingly conscious of this fact. I find strength in clarity because from this place I get to decide what I’m going to do about it.

Well I choose to remember.

For me, my art has been a scared space where I get to remember. A chance to reconvene with the life within me - to become relational with myself, and in that relationship to relearn how to to be of life. To relearn how to listen, how to love, how to ask questions that require waiting for an answer. Not only from myself but from the wind, from the stars, from the ladybug and the leaves and the sun.

In my own experience I know that outside of my scared container - the world is up to something very specific. You don’t have to look far for evidence - most industries are focused on getting as much as they can from the humans who fuel them while giving the least amount possible in return. They aren’t very interested in our humanity because to do so would require noticing the life within us. And they have forgotten.

When we choose to notice the life within us it becomes inevitable that we will notice the planet that holds us. The life that has always held us.

There is grief in this remembering - because so much has been needlessly lost. But there is also power. There is the power to say; no. The power to say; actually that no longer works for me. The power to say; I understand how this is supposed to work but I’m prioritizing something else.

The power to respond to the times that we live in with strength and clarity.

I believe that we are the Art of the Earth and that we are also the Artists who can bring balance back to the Earth. By simply remembering; by doing our work, by healing what’s ours, and by trusting that in doing so we are contributing to something bigger than ourselves.

Perhaps in our own healing - we set in motion catalysts that span across time and dimension.

Perhaps we’ll come to find that all along, life itself was waiting; listening for us, too.

The impulse to extract from the Artist

Is one and the same

As the impulse to extract from the Earth