Before time in the residency, I packed up and spent some weeks backpacking the deep south eastern united states. Starting in my hometown, I spent a day on our local river stretch of the Mississippi river, the Cahaba watershed, chasing a pair of these rare local wood ducks. It became an obsession the following days to seek out these wildlife encounters, almost throwing myself into deep terrain with intensely eager nature tuned curiosity. While i feel lucky to have seen this force of nature, i really felt out of place. My clunky and loud energy received back sense of annoyance, spooked anxiety, of something there thats not supposed to be. A predator at the top of the food chain dressing as a goldfish asking the animals to smile for the camera. I just wasn't listening to the moment, rushing the next, pretending i'm something i'm not. These were my lessons of many this summer; the need to listen, to put myself in others shoes and understand what they may need, to respect the energy of the moment and, in a way, to leave nature to peacefully experience its own misery.
the wood cradle behind the raw linen expresses a sort of respect towards a valuable and raw material, providing a structure while preserving the natural beauty of the linen. Take it as my place to stand behind the forces of nature, to participate, yet respect what it may need to be fulfilled within itself.
