Having Breath

Collectively our presence in the woods represented an act of quiet resistance. Walking, talking, foraging and making art encouraged us to notice and listen, to explore textures, taste, lie on wet moss and stare up into the canopy, to pick up charcoal or stone or twig & make marks on paper, demonstrating a need to merge with the environment – to be inter-relational & mindful.

Some thoughts:

Conversations about environmental issues, art, folk lore have a ripple effect - shared knowledge passing on and on repeatedly over time.

The forages provided moments of inter-connectedness, conversations between people and materials – a series of multi-sensory experiences that opened up possibilities for a deeper understanding of belonging within the natural world.

A sense of collective empowerment – I mean the power of art to transform an experience, providing participants with a magic cloak of hyper-attentiveness.

The familiarity and sense of commonality that comes from revisiting a place regularly. These processes slowly becoming reverent and ritualistic. A sense of becoming emerging with the repetition.

Not the end...