Intentional practising
Close up of a termite mound in Litchfield National Park with Shannon and Lincoln.
With my practice embedded in my body, it can be hard to articulate. It feels part of me, intuitive, at times emotional, always curious. It feels like a way of living. Deeply connected to how I want to move through the world, not just professionally or within my work but within my every day. I think I am working at similar notions to The Creatures Collective idea of kin “There is no conceptual or emotive space between our presence as scholars and our presence as community members—kin—with responsibilities and relationships to those around us.” (Hernańdez et al., 2021, p.858)
I coming to the realisation that my practice is busy with responsive, flexible, curious process. Outcome has never been of interest to me. I am aware it is part of the process but believe the rich thoughtful complex nature of collaborative process produces unique communities of collaborators (kin) that hold/produce/(re) learn the situated knowledge to create tender outcomes that hold care at their centre.
The how of this is trickier to put my finger on - I know it requires:
Holding space - sometimes through gritted teeth, sometimes well beyond what feels comfortable or ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ but holding until the moment clicks ‘works’. Sometimes it is only for a moment like Henry and the Water Truck. Sometimes it is over long intimate periods of time such as Sweat Season which inevitable has many ‘(re)working’ clicks. Inevitable it is about trust in the process, the kin, and regularly an ignoring of western/colonised/ Britt exceptions of timelines.
Other words that come to mind that I will expand a point in time - I will continue to grow this post as I reflect on process.
Nostalgia
Revisiting/re learning
Listening
Hernández, K., Rubis, J.M., Theriault, N., Todd, Z., Mitchell, A., Country, B., Burarrwanga, L., Ganambarr, R., Ganambarr-Stubbs, M., Ganambarr, B., Maymuru, D., Suchet-Pearson, S., Lloyd, K., Wright, S., 2021. The Creatures Collective: Manifestings. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 4, 838–863. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848620938316
Jabiru sky while on the road for art commissioning project for Power and Water with friend Nicholas.