Collecting moments..

Video Filming: The offering

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EI_QDIP_czk

“Is it art if someone says it is?  What makes us value an object as a work of art?  Is it physical appearance alone?  Its aesthetic effect?  Is it rarity?  If diamonds were as plentiful as sand what would we make of them”  John Foster

After our group discussion on Contextual Essay; I found out that sometimes things that are so important to me might not be that interesting to others. However, I do feel I was doing something not to please others. I think this is the first time I could say that I was feeling totally free in my art; totally right. I am doing something that matters to me. I am also feeling that there is a sort of potentiality lurking which would show in its due time. One of the main ideas discussed by some was the WHY?  . Some people were not understanding the why of choosing things over the others (as the beach specifically;the shell specifically;the soap specifically,etc). 

The aim at the start was thinking about to make art using natural resources that was available in my environment. However, choosing this idea above others was the fact that the beach is THE place that has always been present in my life. I have childhood memories of staying at the bungalows next to the sea when relatives came to visit. These memories are happy memories. In my teens, I used to stay the night on the beach with my cousins. We used to lay on the beach and watch shooting stars. These memories are very precious to me as we are now so busy with our family life that we have drifted apart somewhat. During my University years, going to the beach was the reward after long hours of work. And my first work experience as a teacher led me to Rodrigues where I was living in a small house next to the Anse-aux-Anglais beach for two years. Rodrigues being the Island reputed for its kind people, I had the opportunity to stay long hours outside without any fear of assault or anything. I would just gaze the Sea at sunset. I think my experiences are important. They made into who I am now.

As for Choosing Shells, people who are close to me would know that I have always been collecting shells throughout my life. Shells was the ultimate thing to turn to. There was the idea about it being "beautiful", however, there was also the idea about it being linked to me on a personal level. On the critical level, some argued that shells are "common" (there is a kind of "the mundane" in what I was doing..) Hmm, I think I have to digest that and keep in mind: What is precious to me can be mundane to others!

And the project diverged somewhat with myself feeling the deep fear of losing my father. With my father being so ill, looking after him became my priority. Should this aspect be more highlighted in my statement as some suggested? 

Finally my choosing the soap material over others. What made me choose this material over others? I think I wanted to bring in things to my studio where I would work on when I was free. I collected the shells and brought them there. The Studio is a small room in my house. However, after the sketches, I looked for accessible materials and soap was one of them. It was organic in a sense and I wanted that organic element to remain. I also liked the idea of a functional object changing into something else. Objects are fascinating as study. I did not want to use the shell as I felt I had to return them to the place where they belong. These decisions were made on the spur of the moment however, they were important decisions.  One of the main reason behind the soap was the carving element which was important too. I related that to an Art Therapy process. Everything started from the intuitive and the process went on like this from one step to another. I have adopted an attitude of not asking too many questions on the why? .

At last, WHY not choosing Land Art? I don't know. I feel what I am doing at the Studio is more important. I do not want to stick to one particular mode of operating and this has always been my priority for my MA. I want to mix things up and see what happens: drawings, paintings, sculpture, performance.. 

The video was an experiment as well as a performance which I enjoyed. WHY did I do it? Do I really have to answer that? I felt it was a thing to do. Some people asked me: WHAT NEXT? I think life would be so boring if every move was to be planned..Am I taking too much risk for an important exhibition ahead? Time will tell..

Running Water.

Today, I wanted to document my walk alongside the river to the beach. I always look forward to these walking activities. And recently, I just found some crazy ideas about the artist who brought in "an immersive installation" into a gallery space :https://news.artnet.com/art-world/olafur-eliasson-floods-danish-museum-with-river-installation-81795. I was fascinated by this idea and I being in my environment now; I wanted to think about ideas of displacement and the created space... And of course Andy Goldsworthy's Rivers and Tides: ideas about ephemerality and time: http://www.scotsman.com/news/interview-andy-goldsworthy-artist-and-sculptor-1-2005262 ....Some ideas that are important to me are 1. the "understanding" of the place, 2. the difference between looking at something and working with it .., 3. the field work made in the spirit of experimentation, 4. the particularities: the colours specifically produced by the light, the waves, the "situation", the dead and decaying:the uniqueness..., 5. As I start to work with the environment:a boundary is forged which is of social nature:social layers-other people work with the environment too:tourist industry,fishermen.., 6. the place where I would often return to, 7. the works that I am making teaches me something about the place, the material, the atmosphere, the relationships between the shells, the sea,the waves.., 8. the spirit of anticipation and the questioning of my personal emotional involvement, 9. the now and today.. 

 

Olafur Eliasson, Riverbed (2014)The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
Copenhagen,Denmark

 

http://www.tripmondo.com/mauritius/flacq/grande-riviere-sud-est/
http://www.maps-streetview.com/Mauritius/Grande-Riviere-Sud-Est/satelliteview.php
http://www.maps-streetview.com/Mauritius/Grande-Riviere-Sud-Est/
On Andy Goldsworthy :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7YEZMJatrY

Today's Experiment.

Working for the Soul..

 

…matter is physical exuberance, ennobling contact, virile effort and the joy of growth. It attracts, renews, unites and flowers. By matter we are nourished, lifted up, linked to everything else, invaded by life…it contains the spur or the allurement to be our accomplice towards heightened being…

— Theilhard de Chardin

 I started carving with soap as material as it was something which is available in my immediate surrounding. I also wanted to explore on this "routine" aspect as compared to the sensational emotions felt on the beach. I wanted to create a bridge between the Retreat (escapism) and the Home (domesticality) for they both form part of my reality. There is a balance that is maintained for my well-being. 

For me, the act of carving is a form of art therapy. It is a reductivist/subtractive  method where I get to surrender to the creative process. There is a form of vitality in sculpting: the shaping, the forming, the building and the growing. The shapes that emerge are appealing and soothing. While the hand is in full action, self-awareness is enhanced as it becomes more physical. I am reminded of the words of Vincent Van Gogh here who relates "the art produced by man's hands" to the "working of the soul": 

"Art, although produced by man's hands, is something not created by hands alone, but something which wells up from a deeper source of our soul.. My sympathies in the literary as well as in the artistic are drawn more strongly to those artists in whom I see most the working of the soul."

My approach to my work is entirely organic, in response to both emotion and material. I now choose to think about another period of time as I work on. My objects; my collections belongs to another place. The work, produced in the studio, triggers memories from the past. However, the (man-made) material belong to the home/the studio. It is a product; it has a function. By de-contextualising the soap, it now exists in an artistic form. 

As material, soap is soft and malleable. The shape easily comes out and texture is easily formed. There is a fragility associated with the material that I like and I also like the way this material is to be handled with much care. They are also comforting to the hand.

There is a form of ritual going on that is most appealing: something is being transformed in the act of making. In the process, something grows out and unfolds itself, changing from the initial response. There is yet another ritual to complete the ritualistic/ceremonial circle.

I would like to bring these carvings to the sea with me. I would like to place them into the waves to share them with my place of retreat. I would like to trigger the initial function of the soap which is to disintegrate at the contact with water to see what can happen. As soap is an ephemeral material, the swaying actions of the waves can either wash away its surfaces and carve in new forms or break the fragile structures to re-model the sculptures as with the fragmented shells. The displacement from the home to the place where all this started is like a pilgrimage and in a way it can end up as an offering to my "home"; the place where I belong but also the "home" which is the world; and I would be carrying my sense of the home and my love for it to another country where at the end I would be exhibiting my work at the Gallery. I am quite thrilled by this prospect for as I see this act as a heightened form of sharing...

More Drawings..

Breathing Space: From Art Therapy To Spirituality

"Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." - Victor Frankl  

 “The little things? The little moments?
  They aren’t little.”   – Jon Kabat-Zinn       

I have often come across Art Therapy treatments concerning the investigation on the feeling of "the now". This is something I found which is related to "tuning in" of the mind which I also link to a form of meditation.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) are techniques have been shown to reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Mindfulness may mean many things to different people. According to some Art Therapists, mindfulness as a mind-body technique that allows us to increase awareness of our thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations. When we increase awareness of the present moment, we are able to relax our constant judgments and find more pleasure in “what is.”

 Art Therapy Technique:3 Minute Breathing Space

1) Acknowledging
 Bring yourself into the present moment by deliberately adopting a dignified posture. Then ask: ‘What’s going on with me at this moment? What thoughts, feelings and body sensations am I experiencing right now?

You could put your inner experience into words. For example, say in your mind, ‘A feeling of anger is arising’ or ‘self-critical thoughts are here’ or ‘my stomach is clenched and tense.’  

2) Gathering

Gently bring your full attention to the breathing. Experience fully each in-breath and each out-breath as they follow one after the other.  It may help to note at the back of your mind ‘breathing in…breathing out’, or to count the breaths. Let the breath function as an anchor to bring you into the present and to help you tune into a state of awareness and stillness.

3) Expanding

Expand your awareness around the breathing to the whole body, and the space it takes up, as if your whole body is breathing. Especially take the breath to any discomfort, tension or resistance you experience, ‘breathing in’ to the sensations.  While breathing out, allow a sense of softening, opening, letting go. You can also say to yourself ‘It’s ok to feel whatever I’m feeling.’ Include a sense of the space around you too. Hold everything in awareness. As best you can, bring this expanded awareness into the next moments of your day.

You might like to start using the three-minute breathing space in moments of stress, when you are troubled in thoughts or feelings. You can use it to step out of automatic pilot; to reconnect with the present moment and your own inner wisdom.

http://arttherapyspot.com/page/6/ 

I think to absorb, smell, feel, touch, think about, see, taste, hear, and appreciate- already we are deep in the process/making. The first part of the process is involved with Remembering and Embodying while the second part is involved with Modelling and Sharing. I am experimenting on the collaborative process /sharing with the environment right now where my carved soaps will be taken to the beach and immersed with the waves. I am planning that as a performance but also a film. I would also be taking notes.

In his book Trust the Process: An Artist’s Guide To Letting Go, art therapist Shaun McNiff devotes a chapter to creative collaborations with environment and nature. McNiff’s own work draws deeply from observations and times spent in nature. He also encourages readers to explore directly making art involving nature. Rocks, leaves, sticks, mud, and grass are all examples of nature’s raw art materials. McNiff writes:

“The deep satisfaction gained from this type of environmental art is related to an absence of possessiveness and self-consciousness. There is no thought given to taking something home with us. The creative act is pursued solely for its own sake within an ephemeral context. The virtues experienced by working directly with nature help us to create in a similar way when we are in the studio.” 

Many cultures (including European, Native American, African and Pacific Islands) believe that nature is alive and there is a deep sense of mystery and enchantment which  has to be respected and venerated. The plants and animals offer both teachings and nourishment to humans. We are part of nature. My culture (being of Indian Origin-Hinduism) considers nature as the mother from which everything originates. As  being part of it, we are to respect our ties and it is only through this connection that we are able to enjoy spiritual happiness.

 

Hinduism has often been coined as a "environmental friendly" religion. Hindus regard everything around them as pervaded by a subtle divine presence, may it be rivers, mountains, lakes, animals, flora, the mineral world, as well as the stars and planets. It is so because the Divine reality is present as Prana/Shakti energy, power, in every electron, particle, atom, cell and in every manifestation of matter. It is its very fabric. Just like the sparks of a fire are of the same essence as the fire they were issued forth from, so is the entire creation, of the same essence as the Divine. Just as Hindus greet each other saying "Namaste", which means: I recognize and salute the Divine within you, so do they recognize the same Divine essence, in all around them.

Ayurveda, the science of life, which is a complete health and medicine system based on nature and its regenerating forces. Then we have Vastu Shastra, upon which the now well-known Feng Shui is based. Vastu, teaches us how to place and build dwellings, according to the environment it is situated in. It is done in such a way that the surroundings are not damaged by the building's presence, and so that all the natural energies are flowing uninterrupted and freely, providing comfort, peace and prosperity for the dwellers.

Another facet of Hinduism's environmental concern is to do with food is a very physical example: vegetarianism. Typically, Hindu social thought has always included an ecological dimension. Socialism and liberalism do not have this dimension, they can at best annex it. But it is an organic part of Hindu dharma.

(source: Hinduism and Environment - hinduchatzone.com).

Throughout the long history of India, Hindus have shared a fascination with, and respect for, Nature and animals. 

This attitude went beyond the usefulness. It had to do with reverence for all of God's creation. Our ancestors worshipped trees, rivers, birds and stones and connected to the universal principle through Shiva. As we are growing more materialistic, we are losing this connection. Our ancestors saw Nature as being a manifestation of God. There was, therefore, a gratitude towards nature. http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Nature_Worship.htm

Thinking about "my gathering"

There is an acute sense of awareness when I go to gather up my ideas.. I like walking: I get to get over stressing thoughts and a calmness gets to install in. However, walking on the beach is more intense. Overwhelming emotions comes in. I am aware of the wonder and grace which is so powerful, so intense as compared to my pains and problems. Everything eventually comes to a still. Being in the "right now" is the only thing that matters. 

This "moment" is the one before me.  It is the one I can experience and transform. This moment I can choose to be right where I am in the fullest possible sense. And I can breathe to open my senses so that I can feel myself as a small part of the moment in preparation for the depth of possibility it holds.  I can expand my listening to hear the sounds of the waves sharing the moment with me. There is something going on: nature is whispering something important to me. I can expand my moment to the landscape of which I am a detail and find inspiration in the land, air, water, little creatures, shells,leftover of the sea,decayed weeds, twigs and plants around me. I am  part of this process too. I feel this must be some form spiritual practice that I am trying to describe; a collaborative process where I get to be connected with other species in a special way while a slowing down process installs in. The space, the time and the mind become ONE.

I listen to nature for its deeper message; I think It tells me to REMEMBER, for soon enough, as I will be orienting my steps towards another reality, I would only have my memories with me and a nostalgia of what I felt in the past.

The art that I would be creating would be from another reality; the place would be different as would be my perception then. However, I choose to create at that place only as the power of the inspiration felt have been deeply absorbed. The studio is also a place where I belong; it is full with possibility and will enliven ideas from the subconscious. There would be a regeneration process; linked with the domestic aspects of my routine life. There would be a creative attempt to renew these felt emotions, to adapt myself and to re-build on  the familiar in new forms.

What I feel from my making is like meeting a challenge: to expand from what is shifting and changing and to re-orient from fragments. The possibilities here becomes unlimited as one think to grasp on the dynamic rhythms and fragmented patterns of the shells, sharing the treasure within ..

 

Ideas From :

From Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology

The Native Mind and the Cultural Construction of Nature By Scott Atran and Douglas L. Medin and

Folkbiology  Edited by Douglas L. Medin and Scott Atran