Chelsea Call
Gila Wilderness, NM
October 24th, 2019
Does a falling tree make a sound if no one is in the forest to hear it?
Is performance real if it is not documented and then shared?
Is it possible to hold hope and grief for our current world in the same breath?
How can I portray form from the seemingly formless?
These questions guided my investigations while working in the Gila. In support
of my research I re-read Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram. In a chapter devoted
to the element of air he states “Air is the unseen enigma that enables life to live.”
Fascinated with this narrative I wove a dress of yucca and moved through space,
entombing myself with materials from the local plant networks. The process was
one of perceived beauty and experienced burden as the yucca and other flora fibers
scratched against the surface of my skin. After an unaccounted time of embodied
environmental connection I discarded the dress and buried them next to the bank
of the Gila, with hopes that the willow will re-root into the soil, regenerating a cycle of new life.
photo credit: Juana Estrada Hernandez
photo credit: Jake Gatehouse
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