artist statement

It is said no one is an island. We live and move and have our being navigating relationship between other, earth and self. At our essence we are relational beings. My practice is an ongoing inquiry into the nature and meaning of being in relationship.

I explore relational being guided by several precepts; that other, earth and self are three strands of the same DNA and spirit, that we all live in the desire to be known and understood, and that the drive to give and receive love is a primary motivator of all.

To think about relationship I must consider “otherness”, the quality of being distinct and separate from oneself. To exist is to be in relationship, relationship is encountering the “other”. Our capacity to navigate otherness determines the quality and nature of our relationship with other, earth and self.

My practice reflects this three-fold relational interplay. My web presence at www.sharemyworld.net divides my inquiry into poetic writings, photo imaging and community-based intervention. These three distinct yet closely woven strands mirror other, earth and self. My poetics, imaging and interventions are intimately connected and together facilitate “otherness encounter spaces.”

Even though otherness relates to those distinct and separate from us, there is an internal otherness that we all carry. My practice explores this internal otherness at the same time as looking at otherness as central to being human. In varying degrees we all experience the dissonance between who we believe we are and who we truly are at our essence. This is the shared state of all human beings.

My practice highlights this “communal otherness” and asks us to question our ongoing alienation from the earth. It is this alienation that is at the core of our capacity to use the earth with little regard. The way we live in relationship with each other is mirrored in our relationship with earth. We act as both lover and villain. I explore this relational being with earth directly in my poetics.

My practice engages the profound links between other, earth and self. These links are multi-level with numerous intersect points and so transcend divisions between art, community facilitation, philosophy and spirituality. My work makes these commonly accepted divisions transparent for a clearer glimpse into the invisible relational connection between all things.

This connection is the elemental space that joins all life. I believe that there is an “energetic space” we share with each other and earth. In this space dreams of living in vibrant healthy relationship flow back and forth between people and earth.

This space is experienced when we read words that resonate with meaning deeper than what is written. It is experienced when we share a personal story and others hear echoes of their own aches and dreams. This space is experienced when we see a still photograph that somehow moves us emotionally. Each of these experiences originates in the invisible energetic space that connects all life.

My inquiry into the nature and meaning of this energetic space has led me to recognize that otherness and empathy are deeply related. I believe empathy is the key, the foundation that will enable us to grow diverse, relationally sustainable communities deeply engaged with other, earth and self.

My web-based artwork “the degradation and removal of the/a black male” begins a conversation about diversity. The conversation soon broadens to challenge visitors to engage their own otherness. I facilitate a space to encounter otherness in the hope of freeing more of the empathy that we all carry inside.

When people are enabled in empathy long held divisions can dissolve. This may lead to a re-examination of relationship to other, earth and self. Once empathy is engaged we may be able to live new possibilities of being in relationship with each other, the earth, and ourselves.