My Body /Earth Body

by

Chelsea Call

© Chelsea Call. Courtesy of the artist.

Artist Statement

This body of work was created while a resident at Bilpin International Center for Creative Arts in Bilpin, New South Wales after the devastating 2019 Australian bushfires.

My work as an artist aims to incite integration within the multi-faceted layers of my lived experience. Through a research-based framework, I create in response to my fascination within the intersecting perspectives of art, depth psychology, philosophy, and ecology. These varying fields have led me to develop an interdisciplinary approach in my creative practice.

Concerned with the future of the Anthropocene, my work invites viewers into a position of stewardship with the natural world. As humans, our psychological landscapes are a direct mirror of the environment, and vice-versa. When we heal the land, we heal our bodies; when we heal our bodies, we heal the land. My artwork seeks to inspire humans into conversation with the concept of interrelatedness amongst themselves and the other-than-human world. The work intends to create invitations for further engagement.

The photographic medium is the container from which I work. The camera’s lens a frame, a placeholder for my chosen point of view. I observe and create. In these inquiries I have experienced moments of resiliency, regeneration, and hope. The photo image-making format serves as my ally, a tool allowing me to witness the process of transformation, from which I then translate my observations. The result of my reflections aspires to promote ecological renewal on personal and collective platforms. My intention as an artist is to be a gatekeeper for integrative healing, with human and other-than-human species.

About the contributors