ReSeeding

ReSeeding is about finding peace in an unpeaceful time. This work is a series of self-portraits initiated during the 2020 Pandemic, that explores compassion for self and other, preservation, in/sanity in an insane time and profound vulnerability. “ReSeeding” refers both to the need to recede into a space of quiet and deep receptivity as well as planting seeds for new beginnings.

I made this work in collaboration with my daughter and different friends, asking them to click the shutter on the shots I’d set up. The decision to work in collaboration, rather than with a tripod was more than just a practical one but rather a conscious decision to allow myself to be vulnerable with another.  Making this work in partnership required communication, trust, connection and profound vulnerability.  It became a metaphor for relating from an untethered authenticity, mutual respect and attunement.

At first, I took to the water to escape a personal and global anxiety.  Personally, my life had a lot of movement, loss and big changes.  Globally we were becoming increasingly unhinged with precarious world events.  Submerging myself in this milky warm water without definition allowed me to go beneath the surface and listen. I could hear the sounds of my breath and my heartbeat and nothing else.  It was in this meditative submersion that I could listen beyond the global chatter of fear and uncertainty.  In this stillness I could remember the deeper truth of what we came for; to care for ourselves and each other with the utmost of grace, mercy, tenderness and unparalleled love.