I discovered last year photographing elements of nature arranged together was a sort of meditation for me.
A meditation that grounded me deeply. Filling me in a way that was absolutely pressure free.
It accrued without me being aware of how it was transforming me.
I wasn’t doing it to be spiritual.
I wasn’t doing it for a particular project.
No book or spiritual teacher told me this is what I needed for my art or soul.
The great teacher within led me there and didn’t clue me in with all the whys.
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Ever since I wash a child and my head was cloudy I would go on walks.
Nature has and will always be my place of rejuvenation.
Where my mind expands past limitations into a ethereal world.
Sometimes I was at the beach and I would collect feathers or shells from the sea.
Sometimes I would roam the emerald overgrowth of forests behind my house and collect twig, berry and floral.
Other times I would walk around nature reserves and discover butterfly wings or bones bits.
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I began assembling and disassembling, arranging and re-arranging each element into different configurations until something inside me breathed.
I would often do this for an hour, playing with light, with focus and with presentation.
This practice grounded me into the present.
The feeling of fragile translucent wings of the butterfly.
The weight element of a hollow bone and how it used to carry such large beasts.
It brought me gifts only the moment could offer.
Connectedness.
It filled me with a peaceful slowness that inevitably fills me with joy!
I now often steep tea or brew coffee and light candles before I begin.
I know how it fills me, it is a very conscious choice to leave the dishes pilled and create these photographs that have no meaning perhaps to anyone else except me.
But to me they are worship and they are prayer.
They are a self love that feels good and honest and simple.