2020

What I want to bring

Mystery

Folk art

Folk lore

Connection to nature

(we are nature)

Hint at the unknown

What I want people to feel

A reminder there’s more than what meets the eye

A reminder of bodily knowing

A reminder of what we used to know

Personal power

Somewhere out there

There is a place somewhere

where the light and the land

are together as one

where the rocks are the maps where we read the land

somewhere out there

the heather

holds me safe whilst I sleep alone

somewhere out there

purple bed of close companions

protection and luck it draws them in

whenever i’m lost I shall but wander

the purple guides me home

Rural artist as:

- unofficial recorder

- document keeper

- dog walker

- street pacer

- elderly neighbour waver

- loneliness chaser

- casual observer

- field wanderer

- plant speaker

- resource distributor

- friendly face greeter

- front garden speaker

- compliment giver

- community maker

- sweet delighter

- cat stroker

- seed collector

- wild herb gatherer

- child-like wanderer

- bee relocater

where is the soil?

is it vast stretches of ploughed fields?

is it topsoil in the garden?

is it the hollow earth/path where roots grow under?

is it all of these?

what if the field cannot hold me?

what if it cannot hold itself ?

we are the guardians of this earth

we are the keepers

we are charged with protecting our flock

those who depend on great boughs

those who live beneath the surface

those who fly under the moon and stars

those who stand side by side

they are our kin

did you really need me to tell you this?

(did you forget?)

do you remember in your dreams ?

do you feel like you know something you were never taught?

do you remember who came before you?

those who’s blood runs in yours?

do you remember how they lived and what they learnt?

do you remember their fears and their dreams?

the wet dew on morning grass

how fire brought us close.

how to hold the earth and be kind?

do you remember?

(or did you forget?)

- - - - - -

one day, you will be an ancestor to someone

will they be proud?

I have so much I want to share

and so much I want to learn

I cannot lie on the earth and be one with the soil

for too long

time, is something I am pulled back to, always

to the temporal illusion of the present

where things must be done

dishes to wash

food to eat

when the soil invites me

I cannot stay for long

As long as I would like, time drags me back,

back to the present

When the bright stars shine at night

And you feel small

When the oak stands over you

If you were even there at all

When the vast lake stretches out before you

And you can stand only at the edge

Remember that you belong here

That you are part of this

And in that way

You are infinite

Notice

The

Connection

Between

Things

I leave the garden by the little gate

Far away enough from the house that I'm no longer connected to the Wi-Fi

You must have the password

I'm still on 4G, there is a phone mast nearby

When you live in something long enough you do not remember to notice it

She prayed to Matrona, I pray to no one

Or is pray the right word

A word I use to allow understanding?

I call on spirit

Earth spirit, universal spirit

And my brightest and well ancsters to join me

Knelt on the ground

To them, I ask if they can assist me

In my highest and best

I connected to those in my past

Those who came before

To lend me their guidance

I am an ancestor to someone

I feel the Earth

Holding me here

She is the constant between us

Time is not linear

The ability to hear between times

The past and future exist now

A connection to the present

My present

To be in their presence

Divine presence

In non-linear time

What can they tell me?

What can I pass to others?

And here is their message:

Go no further on the land

The future will be held by the Earth

They must listen deep inside

Divine knowledge

Access power

Not which they tell you

But by your own

Connect to us

Save your own

The earth will hold you

But you must hold yourself

The time is now

All must be together

United to one

Past and present and future

All now

Your will can be made

In divine justice

Reborn

Now over to you

Thank you

if i put my body on the land

i can connect to those who have been here

if i put my body on the land

if i do not put my body on the land

i am in the air

i cannot connect to the wifi

Honestly, they've had their chances

They’ve known long enough

They refused to act,

Or made it worse.

We've been told its hopeless,

That it's not our problem

But by god it is our problem

And by god the time is now

By god we must act

And by god this is your sign

I can hope to provide Hope

In a time that seems hopeless

We must have hope,

We must not let those in power destroy our hope

Or our planet

or by god we must try.

I am descended from magic workers

From witches

From mages

From Earth workers

From hags

From those who slept under Hawthorn

From those who spoke with the plants

Those who are we now consider weeds

And if there is one thing I know about weeds-

It's that they keep coming back

My ancestors and I did not survive this long to let some people knowingly destroy the earth for the sake of the economy

It is not profitable to care about others

It is not profitable to share

It is not profitable to sustain life on-board our ship,

Our mother, our home

But we have no choice

Those who have the least give the most

Those with the most need to know that money will get them nowhere

When the only currency left is kindness.

A (the) system is deeply flawed if there are (so) many that do not fit

I am not seduced by a dream of a three bed semi with a mortgage

The nuclear family will never be mine

It is not I who is broken but a (the) system who cannot account for outliers

To accept myself was to dream

To dream is to hope

To have hope is to resist

And honestly, there is not much more I have to my name than hope.

A system built on fear will destroy its self

You cannot fear the other if You need them for so much

The joy of not fitting means you are here to create change

If the system refuses to adapt to suit the needs of those who live within it then it has already crumbled

They did not kill women who connected to the power for no reason

They did not enslave races because they thought them weak

Fear drove those who created the system

There is no way you can silence us all

folkart

sacred ritual

nature

relatable

collecting

walking

dreamlike and surreal

caterpillar to butterfly - dissolves itself// a between time //neither or

visionary

imaginary

IT IS SOMETIMES HARD TO KNOW IF YOU ARE FOLLOWING A PATH

SOMETIMES IT IS NOT CLEAR WHERE THE PATH LIES

BENEATH YOUR FEET

THE EARTH HOLDS YOU

PLANTS LINE THE PATH

THEY WILL GUIDE YOU

LET YOURSELF SHOW YOU THE WAY

When you walk

Do you choose where you walk?

When you walk

Do you choose where you walk?

Do you desire where you walk?

Do you desire to be where you want to go?

Do you choose the path you walk?

Do you choose the path you walk?

Are you following your own path?

Is the path you follow your own?

Desire

Lines

Do you desire the path you walk?

Do you desire the line you follow?

Repeated walking

Over the same path

Produces a pattern in the grass

In the ground

Do you know much about the ground you walk on?

Who owns that land?

Who permits you to walk there?

Do you have a right to be there?

A right to roam?

Access the land

Access rights

Access the land

Access your rights

Is the land accessible?

Your right of way

Public right of way

You and the land

Do you know about the land?

Listen to the land

No one owns the land

They might say they do

But the land owns themselves

Listen to the land

The land is wild and will return to the wild once we have passed

We think we have permanence

Humans have an illusion of permanence

The land is ours

The land is no ones

No one owns the land

The paths we walk are the only permanence we have

Walk off the path

Take a detour

Follow your own path

Desire where you go

Follow your desire

The path you lead will take you where you want to be

Even if you have to move branches out the way to get there

You can no longer capitalise on our bodies

You will no longer capitalise on our weaknesses

You will no longer capitalise on our insecurities

You will no longer be able to exploit the Earth and her resources for your profit

You are not entitled to take what you want and give nothing back

Capitalism is over

It is ending

Whatever is coming next is better than this, for us, for the marginalised

For those who struggle

We are here and we are strong

You do not have any time left for exploitation, it ends now

Only those who are able to live in harmony with the planet will thrive

In the highest and best for those who care deeply about the planet and those living on it

We will flourish

In the Earth and Spirit we trust

So be it ✨🌿💟

The rural imagination

Unmapped terrain of the human experience

Desire lines

I didn’t know you could live in the countryside and be queer and be an artist

I thought those things belonged to the city

I won’t go away

I will always be here

Outside of your binary

Even when you’re dead and gone

I’ll still be here

Singular them and they

I’m disabled but not disabled enough

I’m disabled but not disabled enough

Disabled but not disabled enough

Cognitive disability

Cognitive

Cognitive

Cognitive

Developmental condition

Developmental

Develope- mental

Mental

Mental

Mental health

Mental health condition

Mental

It’s all in your head

Cognitive

(All in your head)

Brain condition

(All in your head)

Not good enough condition

Cognitive condition

Not good enough condition

it’s important that we recognise the power of speaking things into existence

the power of certain people’s imaginations has created the reality in which we live today

we must recognise this in order to create our own reality

The moon belongs to no one

The moon does not belong to anyone

She does not belong to anyone

They do not belong to anyone

The moon has no gender

The moon is genderless

The moon

Emotion

feelings

Cancer, Pisces, Scorpio

Water

Cups

Emotion

Empathy

Intuition

Intuitive knowledge

That which we already know

We already know

She visits us in our dreams

In our visions

The subconscious

The dark side of the moon

All our energy we aren’t aware of

Our Shadow side

Our intuition

Magick

Empathy

They all belong to the moon

She is a mother

Daughter

Crone

She is none of that

Parent

She has no gender

Femininity

???

Masculinity

Redwood, cedar, mountain

Femininity

Clear pools, oceans, tides, the moon

Bodies of water

She controls the water

She controls the tides

She takes care of the ocean

The sea

It is hers

Theirs

what if we had the space to imagine and create?

the space to create a home.

the space to imagine a family.

The space to imagine queer love,

• not at the end of the world.

A space to hold your baby tight

When you’re in bed, late in the night

in the city

and in the countryside.

wherever we chose.

What if?

——

You have forever, and there’s so much you want to do.