SOLASTALGIA ECO-ART GALLERY
Solastalgia: "the pain or distress caused by ongoing loss of solace, and the sense of desolation connected to the present state of one home and territory.
ARTIST STATEMENTS - REFLECTIONSVanessa's Reflection:
'I struggled at first with the idea of consent. I had always imagined that I would know I had consent if I found it easy to connect to the place. The idea that I might have to ask somehow put me into a negative state of feeling that the place might not want me. This played out in relation to mosquitoes. Mosquitoes bite me frequently and I suffer quite a bit of inflammation when they do. When mosquitoes started to bite me during the exercise, I worried that this was a sign of non-consent from the place. Later I realised that the mosquitoes are of course not trying to cause me negative sensation, but simply to feast on me! I am a source of abundance for mosquitoes, and them biting me is a symbol of my welcome in a place. This reminded me that reciprocal relationships with nature don’t always feel elevated and ecstatic…' *** 'Solastalgia' - Poem and Solastalgia Mixed media assemblage by Karen Hopkins Is this the new dis ease I have to bear? Gutted by a deep grief sickness living in veins of the loss of hopes and dreams. Paralysed by powerlessness I slowly slip into psychoterratic distress… Dear Mother I feel your pain … for part of you your suffering is mine too. Your generous life-giving force abused umbilical threads running through the web of life frayed about to snap. Overwhelmed by forces of destruction My steps seem futile thwarted… Immobilised by confusion, my heart a heavy a stone, drops … Flighty feathers now on fire, I sink a burning bird into a plastic sea… drowning into eco paralysis limb by limb.. An ancestor of a future nightmare abyss I fear for the life I birthed in to this. Desolate with an aching solace agia I crawl in to my cage... my song muted. *** "The Singer of Tree Songs" by Deb Punton Media/Method: wool and natural materials. (Needle-felted Spirit Doll heart) Reflection: I chose a place where I lived and loved the house and garden. When I moved out they bulldozed everything including the beautiful huge old Liquidamber tree in the front garden, my special tree. My feelings of solastalgia included grief, loss, and sadness as an ache in my chest, and frustration, anger and fear in my head. I recognise it is my sense of value, belonging, love and care that are giving me these uncomfortable feelings. I breath through them. What actions do I need to feel more pleasant feelings? I relate it to another place I mourn, and hear; “Talk to me…visit me.” I am drawn to visit this place again, alone and silently converse. I want and need to sustain relationships with the land and beings, I am not alive without these reciprocal relationships. I want to be involved with ecological restoration projects. I see I can care and nurture another part of our world and release this place while keeping my memory alive. After the shock of seeing the tree suddenly gone I sensed it saying; “once alive, always alive... " we all transition into some other form so we don’t suddenly disappear... My memory and processing this experience was manifested as the spirit doll ‘The Singer of Tree Songs.’ *** |
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More about solastalgia...
- In Glenn Albrechts book Earth Emotions: New Words for a New World we are gifted with a new vocabulary to relate and weave in our feeling states. As we are living in unprecedented times with new felt experiences, it if useful to have words for describing emotional states caused by environmental change. Feelings associated with Solastalgia result from experiencing environmental change which challenges our sense of home, our identity or sense of self. The reason for a person feeling solastalgia may be similar to a nostalgia because the home environmental changes no longer resembles and feels like home, and they can't identify with what they knew and loved about it.
- Glenn Albrecht Tedx Talk: Environment Change, Distress & Human Emotion Solastalgia
- Glenn Albrecht talks about Solastalgia at the 25-min mark of this talk.
- Glenn Albrecht blog"Solastalgia is a relatively new concept for understanding the links between human and ecosystem health, specifically, the cumulative impacts of climatic and environmental change on mental, emotional, and spiritual health. Given the speed and scale of climate change alongside biodiversity loss, pollution, deforestation, unbridled resource extraction, and other environmental challenges, more and more people will experience solastalgia." Research "Solastalgia: Living With the Environmental Damage Caused By Natural Disasters" by Warsini, Sri; Mills, Jane; Usher, Kim (February 2014)
100% of profits donated to Warburton Environment protection of native forests.
Participants will be invited to the 'Truth about our Forests Tour' See more here on the Lost Species Gallery page.
Hashtags: #ecoarttherapy #NSLFestivalAus #ecopsychology #deepecology
This event will remain open for others to experience anytime after the event with profits being donated.
Participants will be invited to the 'Truth about our Forests Tour' See more here on the Lost Species Gallery page.
Hashtags: #ecoarttherapy #NSLFestivalAus #ecopsychology #deepecology
This event will remain open for others to experience anytime after the event with profits being donated.
THANK YOU
I acknowledge and pay our respects to the first people of our various countries, their elders, past, present and emerging.
I also respect the role our ancestors play in our participation in creating a more just, regenerative culture.
We also gratefully honour the other-than-human entities.
I also respect the role our ancestors play in our participation in creating a more just, regenerative culture.
We also gratefully honour the other-than-human entities.
This event is offered as part of the Sustainable Living Festival 2021 and the SOS project. (Sustainability of self as a whole living organism) focusing on eco-resilience by transitioning uncomfortable sensations related to climate and ecological grief and anxiety.
Crisis management: SOS sessions are not a substitute for any medical care, regular treatments, and medications. If you feel in a crisis state, or feeling intense anxiety/grief, please contact a professional service provider ASAP. It is easier to heal and transition with profesional guided assistance. Please note Deb/Greensong is an ecopsychologist, not a psychologist. Some specialist links are provided at the bottom of the SOS project page.
Crisis management: SOS sessions are not a substitute for any medical care, regular treatments, and medications. If you feel in a crisis state, or feeling intense anxiety/grief, please contact a professional service provider ASAP. It is easier to heal and transition with profesional guided assistance. Please note Deb/Greensong is an ecopsychologist, not a psychologist. Some specialist links are provided at the bottom of the SOS project page.
