Text-based Research May 2019
To go along with my image collection I usually create mind maps examining certain themes and ideas within the work.
I wrote a statement that I think sums up much of what goes on in the work:
Communication of otherworldly experience requires a symbolic language due to the ephemeral and unexplainable nature of the phenomena. Often this communication is through artwork, story and performance, where material representations, in the form of object, symbol and gesture, can be used as to communicate the incommunicable.
My workbook gets a bit confusing at times with all my diagrams and scribbles, but I always go back to re-reference them, even those I made several years ago. Here I've started picking apart my interest in the occult, or esoteric, and how it functions within my art practice both positively and negatively.
I've then gone on the look at the place of Space, Body and Object in esoteric practice.
SPACE
MODIFIED SPACE
- Buildings or rooms dedicated to ritual or sacred practice.
- Symbols, maps, written and visual language applied to floors, walls, ceilings, furnishings.
- Furnishings (objects!) for use within practice.
NATURAL SPACE
- Areas that are 'fit for purpose'.
- Often natural environments imbued with 'the sacred'; natural occurrence of an elemental nature like water, air, fire, earth or to do with animals, trees etc.
UNINTENTIONAL SPACE
- Spaces that have a 'received specialness'. For example they may have a historical significance to do with previous events, previous owners, previous usage.
- Haunted spaces.
OTHERWORLD SPACE
- Spaces that do not exist within the material world; internal space, astral space, extra dimensional space etc.
- The collective unconscious, spaces that exist within myth.
-'Other' worlds eg. the Enochian aethyrs.
OBJECT
RITUAL / TALISMANIC OBJECTS
- A symbolic representation of a non-corporeal element.
- A way to contain/control/transport.
- A way to make the intangible physical.
- The language of objects; the interplay between objects.
- Allows connection with the 'other'.
- We imbue objects with power (just looks at what we do with mobiles phones!)
- Furnishings for a ritual space.
WEARABLE / SMALL OBJECTS
- Method of communication.
- Can be concealed.
- Can have a special connection with the owner's body.
- Can be passed from one person to another.
REPURPOSED OBJECTS
- Turning one thing into another = object alchemy.
- The history of an old object can be brought into a new form, the power and meaning of objects can be combined and amplified.
- Conversations between objects and materials.
MAPPING (ONTO OBJECTS)
- A symbolic pathway, a way through.
- May require a symbolic language to communicate or to decipher.
- An instruction, investigation, journey, discovery, unveiling.
- A visual plan or language.
- A path for the seeker, an instruction for an ordeal.
BODY
BODILY ATTRIBUTES
- Emphasis on body part eg eyes, teeth, hands, genitals.
- Emphasis on symbolism ascribed to that body part.
- Ritualised movement or pose of body part or full body eg mudras.
- Fetishising body parts, making them talismanic or sacred.
- Making the body monstrous, godlike or humorous through distortion of characteristics.
RITUAL MARKING OF THE BODY
- Permanent or transitory marking eg tattooing or scarification versus painting or make-up.
- Status or right of passage.
- A personal ordeal vs a communal event.
- Language of the body. Marking the body as a vessel, talisman or sacred object.
- Becoming more than human.
DRESS
- Enacting a character or archetype.
- Giving form to the incorporeal.
- Using dress as part of a symbolic language.
- Becoming 'other'; an animal, a spirit, an idea.
MOVEMENT
- Creating a language through moving and shaping the body.
- Communication without words.
- Sacred / ritual dances.
- Moving between worlds.
- Combine with dress, markings, objects and space to create a powerful method of communication and experience.
I also took a delve into my personal interest in the occult; the whys, wherefores and the problematic aspects that go along with it. Something I'm looking into right now is correlation between interest in the esoteric in times that are particularly turbulent in a socio-political sense.
The issue of anything to do with the occult seeming laughable, absurd, embarrassing, cheesy (the list goes on) is something I work with constantly. I've thought about choosing to embrace that in my work, but it doesn't sit right, so I continue to balance on the tightrope of earnestness! I'm fully aware of appearing ridiculous, but it's an interesting space to exist in. What I need to keep pushing towards is finding the place where viewers find relevance and connection in the work. It's not about me.
I'm also curious about the general public's acceptance (and even the commercial exploitation) of some aspects of what is widely considered 'occult' versus the fear of other aspects such as mysticism and esotericism. Aside from residual superstition around devil worship and that sort of thing, I suspect is due to it's very nature; being occult = being hidden. Science-minded twenty first century people might not be scared of demons, but they want to know things straight away and in bite-sized form, even extremely complex ideas shouldn't take longer than a standard podcast to explain. I wonder if the very thing that has always drawn me to esotericism is what repels many others; everything is hidden under layers of symbolism that can only be revealed over time. It's non-didactic - everything is found through questioning, testing, exploring and finding. It's a SLOW process that requires patience and commitment which are in short supply right now due to the way we interact with technology - and that's another aspect of the whole thing that is worth exploring.