It might be about Water!

Today I was walking in the woods near the house, thinking about the forest as a potential theme. Then 'water' came to my mind. If I think of the string pictures, images or creative outcomes that I have produced so far, most of my favourite have something to do with water. And even the last polaroids that I took and particularly like, all include water.

The idea of working on 'water' has been in my head for a while. And it would particularly suit the use of cyanotypes (for obvious association with the blue colour).

So, here a few keywords, just to start brainstorming:

water
tides
blue
waves
stillness
sea
lochs
fluctuating
deep
breathing
drawning
mythical creatures living in water
sacred water
safe water
dangerous water
drops
tears
letting go
becoming
fluidity
...

Possible title that just came up to my mind
Aqua - Uisge
This title would use Latin and Scottish Gaelic: my own cultural past and the one of the place in which I live
A possible sub-title could be:
Watery Dreamscapes in Caledonia
But I am not sure a want to use a geograhical specification

Have a look at:
watery landscapes in Max Ernst's Femme 100 tetes and Une Semaine de Baute'

Research:
local myths about water
water creatures in Scottish tradition (not Nessie!)
ancient sacred rites connected to water
water landscapes considered sacred in the past

Potential themes for discussion:
sacrality and preservation of the environment
art and preservation of the environment
art as a tool for reflection
art and myths

My Statement and an Official Beginning

My work has always focused on the creative exploration of places and on how myths, legends and oral histories permeate the space around us and possibly shape the way we interact with it. These ideas are at the base of most of my installations, performances and multimedia artworks, from Raining Buddhas (2009) to Until the End of an Everlasting Day (my practice-based PhD outcome in 2012), from Edges (2011) to This is the Way the World Ends (2015). I believe that how we perceive and contemplate the land affects the way we treat it, and ultimately impacts on how we live within it. Reconnecting with ancient myths, legends, beliefs and local traditions concerning specific spaces and places around us would help us stop, reflect on and listen to our environment and develop a deeper awareness of it, and consequently a more thorough interconnection with it. I also believe that, in order to give strength to my visual/creative reflection on the environment and to integrate environm

The Forest: A potential theme

In my PhD research, I marginally investigated the topic of the forest as a place of loss. Enchanted, haunted, feared and attractive, the forest has always embodied a wide range of human emotions and feelings. This is what I wrote in my PhD dissertation and that I might use as a starting point for a new project: "...These places [in the forest] are clearly and intentionally connoted as sacred areas which, before you leave behind the realm of the civilization, introduce and warn you that you are entering the archaic realm that preceded the human world, which was in the darkness before the light (Harrison, 1992, p. 17). And it is still there in the common imagination. The forest is the place of initiations, of the moment that irreversibly changes human destiny; it is the site of obscure rites, whose mystery lies concealed thanks to the complicity of the darkness that reigns there; it is, moreover, the space that surrounds the other world, through which passes the path to tha

Scottish water mythical presences 1

Here the preliminary results of a web search about Scottish water mythology: Ashrays (or Water Lovers) These are translucent nocturnal water creatures, both males and females. They live under water and are often mistaken for sea ghosts. The legend says that if they are captured and exposed to sunlight ashrays melt and only a puddle of water remains. Keywords: nocturnal translucent melting puddle Blue men of the Minch They supernatural sea creatures that are believed were to live in underwater caves in the Minch straight. They are represented as humans with blue skins and are believed to be related to mermen. Legends say that they used to swim alongside passing ships, and attempting to wreck them by conjuring storms and by luring sailors into the water. "If a captain wanted to save his ship he had to finish their rhymes and solve their riddles, and always make sure he got the last word." Keywords: blue skin rhymes Statue of the Selkie. By Siegfried Rabanser -

Thinking, Breathing, Exploring, Creating

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