RIPPLES
The middle of nowhere is NOW HERE.
"Take me to the lakes where the poets went to die, I don't belong, and, my beloved neither do you." ~Taylor Swift, The Lake
Romantic and ethereal, bodies of water have always carried emotional, spiritual, and cultural meaning and value.
Rivers of Hope
Dear Lakes and Streams and Oceans and Seas, you are Rivers of Hope.
Many Rivers to Cross
The River
Take me to the River
Jordan
River Jordan
Ol' Man River
Orinoco Flow
Over the River and Through the Woods
Moon River
Cry Me a River
Rivers of Babylon
Shenandoah
Oh, Shenandoah
Rivers of Hope, you’ve been the subject of many lyrics, you enchanted bodies.
You host christenings and baptisms,
you receive strewn remains. You give life.
You are mystical and magical.
One day, I will see my reflection by the light of the silvery moon on the banks of the River Jordan.
Michelle Joy
Still Waters Run Deep...and yet, deep waters are rarely still.
One morning as I looked into the still lake, the reflection I beheld was the beauty of the heart. The poet Rumi wrote in his Love Is The Water Of Life that the lips, the water of life, and the one whose thirst has been quenched are one. It's a oneness that cannot be known by reasoning. The 13th Century Afghani poet and scholar realized one thing:
connectedness.
The morning's cool, crisp breeze was encouragement to walk a victory walk and dream in color. Seeing the sapphires, the teals, the emeralds, and the aquas of the lake; the sages, mauves, and ochres of the forest; the lavenders, the fuchsias, and golden hues of the evening sun was to know that the Divine is always active in everything in the world - in amazing technicolor.
All the beauty of life is made up of light and shadows." ~Leo Tolstoy
All the beauty of life is made up of light and shadows." ~Leo Tolstoy
And, then there is the nearby forest.
A place where life, death, and return to the earth are equally experienced by feared beast and harmless, fallen leaf alike.
Now Here is in the middle of nowhere.
Don't think for a moment that the middle of nowhere is exempt from the ripples of the world.
Travel from Atlanta, Georgia to ArtMill Center for Regenerative Arts in rural Czech Republic would be a journey of beauty, and of dreams. Purposely traveling to "The Middle of Nowhere." A place with room to seek and find a new 'now here.' A month-long Artist-In-Residence would create space to regenerate, to retreat after a long-haul of thriving through life's challenges, and to advance toward new expression.
Now here, in early October...
One more tear in the fabric of humanity sent ripples that are still being felt around the globe. Acts of bias that go against the grain of the fabric that holds us together as human beings.
If you don’t like it, fix it.
Millions of humans are being forcibly relocated because of war, civil violence and crime, expulsions, mass returns in forced repatriation and deportation, sometimes to lands that a person has never stepped foot on. Especially the young.
I recall reading a quote once that said what inspires genius is not necessarily new ideas, but one's obsession with the idea that what has already been said is not enough. That would surely preach, given some of the recent events and the ripples they cause.
What has already been said about the way that humans are being treated is not nearly enough. Granted, I may only be one person, but there are almost 8 billion other "I am only one persons" that share the planet, with their own genius and voice!
Being humane is an art. It takes seeing the beautiful and the phenomenal in the real.
Back to genius. The creative mind is hungry and borders on insatiable. Getting to know the Creative Mind can lock ignorance and confusion in a vise and drive grief and disappointment to run to a better host – a place that will tolerate uninvited guests.
So, to harvest the creative mind, I have sought a new pair of eyes capable of seeing bright ideas that give voice to more than what already has been said. Eyes that look for joy in all the right places: in the sunlight, in the rain, in the sky, the sea, in the earth, and in my connections. In everything.
Joy in the rain.
Joy in the sky.
Joy in the sky.
Joy in the light.
Joy in the light.
Joy in the earth because ART is in the middle of earth.
Joy in the earth because ART is in the middle of earth.
Frozen Webs
Count on swings in the weather.
A frozen spiderweb on a gate following a temperature drop.
Count on the needle moving back to the center.
The morning sun quickly melted the frost and left silvery teardrops to dangle from the web. There will always be cold snaps in the web of human connections. It takes the voices of ordinary people to warm up those connections to restore the web to health.
Count on the Lake
Czech Republic has no natural lakes except for a few small glacial lakes in mountain areas. Some of the man-made ponds and their littoral zones have become wetlands. They look like natural lakes, and some date as far back as 900 years. This lake has a dam that, when preparing for the harvest of carp fish, is managed so that water is directed to a nearby stream (Nalžovský potok).
Harvest Day can be counted on and is anxiously awaited by neighbors and nearby townspeople. It's tradition. The lakes are inextricably linked to a Czech cultural artifact: the carp become the main course of Christmas Eve dinner.
In preparation for the harvest, the dam is shut and water diverted.
In preparation for the harvest, the dam is shut and water diverted.
First sign.
The drawdown.
Ripples and Relocation
The 'thing' about relocating living beings for conservation or consumption, is, there will always be consequences - intended or unintended. As in nature. Reduce a lake's levels drastically by diverting water elsewhere, and you can count on the amount of dissolved oxygen decreasing. The fish will literally jump out of the water in search of air, creating...
Ripples.
Humans are no different. Forced migration, expulsions, encampment, enslavement, gentrification, and stressed resources caused by wars, poverty, civil conflicts, and natural disasters invariably create ripples that cause populations to look for breathers, for relief.
Relocation
Hungry for air.
And exposed.
And fending.
The small-fry fish.
Strong in numbers, like many young that are displaced with no say in where they are expected to thrive. Or not.
RIPPLES
As Harvest Day approached, a trap and single net were placed in the still water. The calm was only on the surface; the water was dotted with ripples caused by the lake dwellers' struggle to breathe due to drastic lower lake levels.
Harvest Day
Ready, set...
The Harvest
A Full Circle.
Fishermen form a circle beginning with first net.
Rousing The Catch
One way to relocate a population is to cause a stir where it resides.
One way to relocate a population is to cause a stir where it resides.
Ripples
The water is slapped with poles to excite the carp and drive them into the nets.
The water is slapped with poles to excite the carp and drive them into the nets.
A Line Of Onlookers Forms
Ducks in a row. The entire ecosystem of the lake is affected by the drawdown.
Ducks in a row. The entire ecosystem of the lake is affected by the drawdown.
The landscape undergoes drastic transition in the drawdown leading to Harvest Day. Submerged land is exposed and populations inhabit the space in different formations. These tracks resemble the birds in flight.
The landscape undergoes drastic transition in the drawdown leading to Harvest Day. Submerged land is exposed and populations inhabit the space in different formations. These tracks resemble the birds in flight.
Operation In Full Swing
The carp are directed into one large net, preparing to be placed on a conveyor to the truck that will transport the catch.
The carp are directed into one large net, preparing to be placed on a conveyor to the truck that will transport the catch.
The catch is sorted and conveyed to water-filled compartments on trucks that deliver the fish to market. The fish are kept alive until just before Christmas Eve.
The catch is sorted and conveyed to water-filled compartments on trucks that deliver the fish to market. The fish are kept alive until just before Christmas Eve.
And in the nearby stream, though displaced, there are survivors.
There are roads out of the secret places within us along which we all must move as we go to touch others.
Thank you ArtMill.
ArtMill Center for Regenerative Art, lies in the heart of Central Europe, in Czech Republic in the Bohemian countryside. It is shifting the paradigm from sustainability to regeneration.
ArtMill Center for Regenerative Art, lies in the heart of Central Europe, in Czech Republic in the Bohemian countryside. It is shifting the paradigm from sustainability to regeneration.
