On speaking terms again, transformative experiences of artful earth connection

Abstract

There is a fundamental mismatch between the way humans think and the way the earth works. We need experiences that allow us to better fit with the earth in its living reality. To meet that end, this artful heuristic inquiry began with the question: 'What is the experience of artful earth connection? ' To be able to speak to each other clearly again, to be able to decode each other's messages, and be moved to act on behalf of the earth is the vision. By sharing one cycle of an artful heuristic research process, it is revealed that spontaneous painting is metamorphic on many levels and can be a slow moving, reciprocal, sensory dance with the more-than-human world. We experience the spontaneous, the child-like, the embodied, the organic, the wild, and the primitive/tribal. Writing by a range of thinkers in the areas of environmental philosophy, quantum physics and art therapy has shaped this work. In this thesis I share stories, dialogues, poetry and images created by myself and six other spontaneous painters, providing a window into a renewed human-earth fit through art making. I revision the common perception that art making is a solely human endeavour, reserved for a talented few. Rather art making can be a human-earth co-creation, a living language of sorts, that is natural and free flowing. Like meditation, painting can focus the body-mind, helping it to stay in the moment, in the still-life. We experience a sacred place where we are on speaking terms with the earth once again. There are three main sections. 'Stilling Life: Wildness and Domestication ' explores stories of a poor fit between humans and the earth, revealing what can happen when we act on the notion of separateness from the earth. ' A Still Life: Painting the Pattern that Connects' describes spontaneous painting as a transformative earth connecting activity and reveals both the painting and artistic inquiry processes that promote a good human-earth fit. Finally, 'Still Alive: On Speaking Terms Again' shares images, narrative and poetry of experiences of artful earth connection.