As children we form concepts we will use for the rest of our lives. We adopt these notions to judge, compare and form our ideas of self, community and our surroundings. These notions will form the basis of our “gut reactions”. Some of these notions are a positive force. Some of these notions are negative and act as a destructive force to our health, maintenance of society, and the welfare of our environment. To facilitate personal sovereignty and the responsibility that accompanies this, it must be understood that when these fundamental thought structures confine growth, we must break through the artificial barriers.
While repotting some plants, I became fascinated by their root structure and mostly how the roots were bound into the cylindrical container they where growing in. I have seen this before, as I am somewhat neglectful to my plants. This time though, my mind made the connection between this everyday occurrence and the human condition. This suggested that we are contained by thoughts and emotions, by patterns set up from concepts, grown from fundamental nurturing associated with societal living, the notion of prosperity and even beauty. With this seed of awareness I began the meditative process of casting everyday objects I saw as representing these principle notions.
The first step in making multiples of a sculpture is to cast a negative of an object. The casting mold will change over time in the damp, fungus prone environment; its rubber material giving and distorting its shape from the force of the roots finding weaknesses. By utilizing this negative as a container in which to grow a plant, then recording its life and ultimate suffocation under the conditions of being root bound, I am able to connect the life – death struggle with physical confinement. It is not that much of a leap to the connection with conceptual forms of confinement.
This series as a whole is an action, taking years from giving space to grow, waiting, watering, nurturing, observing and recording and finally to point were the plants cannot be sustained. The visual reminder left behind by photographs and sculptures help in understanding the forces at play when in the grips of unhealthy or misplaced emotions or thoughts such as anger or fear. When the direction we are pointed is not in a direction best suited to our health, we can then use the awareness that we are being confined by thoughts and emotions as a tool to find a more compassionate, non-selfish and sustainable modality for action. And finally, where actions change thoughts and even ‘gut feelings’ may follow.
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