IMG_8855
What Remains, 2024
Since my best ideas always come from taking a walk in the woods, when Wild Cumberland approached me about creating a piece for their panel discussion, “Stewards Of The Wild” for the Atlanta Science Festival, that's exactly what I did. With the knowledge that this year’s festival coincided with International Women’s Day and WC’s desire to create an immersive experience for their discussion, the idea to further develop an earlier installation, Talisman, came rather easily. However, What Remains would be created with natural materials collected from areas around Cumberland Island (not the protected Island itself). Then the venue ended up being @7stagesatl and all that glorious head room enabled me to extend her size, bring her aloft and give her movement.
I am not sure if I can convey how much this commission meant to me. Born and raised in Atlanta - I had always heard about Cumberland Island but somehow had never been. This past January, with borrowed camping gear from WC - off I went. Adventure and time in the woods, a giant night sky, the ocean, the beach, ruins, live Oaks, palms, spanish moss, the richest greens and browns, wind, bird and frog songs, visits with deer and other creatures, cooking with fire and then just time to myself in quiet to listen to all the life happening around me. It was a gift that lasted long after coming home.
I have always been fascinated with different creation myths and the idea that this world began with something from the natural world; a raven, a turtle, deer, a snake etc. The natural world as sacred. Feeling the way I do about nature, these stories (rather than my traditional Christian upbringing) always felt closer to me and the way that I feel about the Divine. For this project and since many of these species (deer, turtles, snakes) live on Cumberland, I decided to include them and build from there. Each of the parts that make up this female form will change in color, shape and weight and they will all eventually die. What remains is the life and beauty that they brought to everything else around them, all that they sustained with their own lives - which is the life giving legacy and generosity of the natural world. If we don’t respect, protect and save it, we are essentially and simply not respecting, protecting and saving ourselves.
What Remains was also part of 7 Stages Production of True North also presented as part of the Atlanta Science Festival