Echo

Echo

 

“When something vibrates, the electrons of the entire universe resonate with it. Everything is connected. The greatest tragedy of human existence is the illusion of separateness.”

                                                                             Albert Einstein

 

The sculptures that emerged from my journey through poisoning were beautiful. 

 

And perhaps it is when we listen quietly to the hurts within our bodies, and the pain within our hearts - when we call into the abyss of our deepest selves, that we may hear the voice of the natural world and the universe will answer. 

 

The experience of “reconnection” to the natural world  is at the heart of this piece. 

 

Her brain is formed from the remains of a poisoned wasp nest. Life was only just beginning to emerge when the nest was devastated.  Amidst the cells, the light of the universe still shimmers through the embedded black star sapphires. 

 

She hangs her head in sorrow, even as she contemplates the call of the ocean, through the lovely shell fixed upon her ear.  Another shell is affixed to her back, as the call of the ocean also resonates through her womb. 

 

Her bladder and, behind panels, her kidneys, are formed from sterling silver.  Her womb is a beaver skull, and inside the vagina is a single “toxic sperm” which contains mercury.  In her womb is a cicada and a depiction of the Little Dipper with the North Star.  

 

Her stomach, pancreas, spleen, heart are formed from roots and mushrooms and a single geode forms her liver.  

 

As each hidden layer speaks and then propels us onwards to the next, we are taken on a thoughtful journey, as we are, on every level, reminded of the interconnectedness of all life, and as Einstein suggests, of everything, everywhere.  

 

 

An Echo in the Shell

 

“I  plunged my hands into the earth, and brought close to me, 

 last vestiges of life from our natural world, absorbing what remained of their memory.

 

Clutching an abandoned shell, I opened my lungs to the biosphere , and holding it to my mouth, I blew, declaring our existence. 

 

Through the empty chambers, our lonely voices echoed, amidst the sound of distant waters that faintly called “come home”. 

 

But the ocean in retreat had swelled, rushing back with a deafening roar, and  I was splintered by the force. 

 

Through the cracks of my fractured body, the vibrations of the natural world began to seep - sharing wonder and  sorrow and the whispering of doom….” 

 

                                                                                                                           

And from within our own abandoned shells, where our lonely voices echo through the hollow of our hearts, perhaps the rising tide may yet return and fill an emptiness in the heart of all humanity.