afterbirth: Un Cortège

Mother spirit of this project: Frida Kahlo

the project:

a procession of mourners along the banks of the Seine. To occure in Spring 2009.

mourning is a transition from dark into light – pain into acceptance. that dark to light naturally occurs in the transition form winter into spring. It is also the time of easter in the catholic calendar – where jesus is crucified. we hear this sentence so often, it is so engrained in our consciousness that it has lost it’s significance among the pastel colored jellybeans. easter is about candy now minus Lent. We no longer sacrifice or reflect on mourning at this time of year.

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days. All churches that have a continuous history extending before AD 1500 observe Lent. The ancient church that wrote, collected, canonized, and propagated the New Testament also observed Lent, believing it to be a commandment from the apostles. (See The Apostolic Constitutions, Book V, Section III.) (http://www.kencollins.com/holy-04.htm)

I also look to El dia de los Muertos. Although it occurs November 1st it is a celebration of the Dead.

Carlos Miller
The Arizona Republic

(http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dead/history/)

More than 500 years ago, when the Spanish Conquistadors landed in what is now Mexico, they encountered natives practicing a ritual that seemed to mock death.

It was a ritual the indigenous people had been practicing at least 3,000 years. A ritual the Spaniards would try unsuccessfully to eradicate.

A ritual known today as Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. The ritual is celebrated in Mexico and certain parts of the United States, including the Valley.

Celebrations are held each year in Mesa, Chandler, Guadalupe and at Arizona State University. Although the ritual has since been merged with Catholic theology, it still maintains the basic principles of the Aztec ritual, such as the use of skulls.

Today, people don wooden skull masks called calacas and dance in honor of their deceased relatives. The wooden skulls are also placed on altars that are dedicated to the dead. Sugar skulls, made with the names of the dead person on the forehead, are eaten by a relative or friend, according to Mary J. Adrade, who has written three books on the ritual.

The Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations kept skulls as trophies and displayed them during the ritual. The skulls were used to symbolize death and rebirth.

The skulls were used to honor the dead, whom the Aztecs and other Meso-American civilizations believed came back to visit during the monthlong ritual.

Unlike the Spaniards, who viewed death as the end of life, the natives viewed it as the continuation of life. Instead of fearing death, they embraced it. To them, life was a dream and only in death did they become truly awake.

It is this concept that I want to focus on – the transition from death into life and vice versa. I think too often in american and european cultures death is so segregated from our lives, thus creating a fear of something natural. Death is here, it is essential. there is nothing to fear. Experiencing death in your life is transformative. It is painful, but once having gone through it you can not recognize it’s power and honour it. The power of nature is the only thing that humbles us humans.

Coming full circle I also look to the holiday Holi – celebrated in the hindu culture.

Holi (Hindi), or Phagwa (Bhojpuri), also called the Festival of Colours, is a popular Hindu spring festival observed in India, Guyana, Trinidad, and Nepal. In West Bengal, it is known as Dolyatra (Doljatra) or Boshonto Utsav (“spring festival”).

On the first day, burning of the demoness Holika, Hiranyakashipu’s sister, in a huge bonfires at night. It is called as Kama dahanam in Andhra Pradesh.

On the second day, known as Dhulhendi, people spend the day throwing colored powder and water at each other. The spring season, during which the weather changes, is believed to cause viral fever and cold. Thus, the playful throwing of the colored powders has a medicinal significance: the colors are traditionally made of Neem, Kumkum, Haldi, Bilva, and other medicinal herbs prescribed by Āyurvedic doctors. A special drink called thandai is prepared, sometimes containing bhang (Cannabis sativa).

Rangapanchami occurs a few days later on a Panchami (fifth day of the full moon), marking the end of festivities involving colours.

mort (working title)

*this concept has been folded into a larger project that I am working on.

concept: Broadcast whale songs under one of the bridges over the Seine.
This is a response to DANSE magnetand it’s about my relationship with the public. I feel like DM was very intrusive and demanding. With WP I want to give something, to sit with “the public”. I feel like I’m in a new relationship with this city and I have to be delicate to the energy push and pull. Whale songs are very deep and moving. The whale, to me, is the icon of woman/mother/emotions. So I want to nurture with this piece. And there are so many bridges here that the echo will be amazing. I just need to invest in an amplifier.

online references:
http://www.whales.net/
http://www.whalesounds.com/home/index.html

Whale song is the sound made by whales to communicate. The word “song” is used in particular to describe the pattern of regular and predictable sounds made by some species of whales (notably the humpback) in a way that is reminiscent of human singing^{[citation needed]}. The mechanisms used to produce sound vary from one family of cetaceans to another. Marine mammals, such as whales, dolphins, and porpoises, are much more dependent on sound for communication and sensation than are land mammals, as other senses are of limited effectiveness in water. Sight is limited for marine mammals because of the way water absorbs light. Smell is also limited, as molecules diffuse more slowly in water than in air, which makes smelling less effective. In addition, the speed of sound in water is roughly four times that in the atmosphere at sea level. Because sea mammals are so dependent on hearing to communicate and feed, environmentalists and cetologists are concerned that they are being harmed by the increased ambient noise in the world’s oceans caused by ships and marine seismic surveys.