The Poetry of a Silent Tragedy
2020 - 2023
2020 - 2023
At the beginning of 2020, I found myself stranded on an island during the notorious events known globally as “The Lockdown.”
In the comfort of a tropical paradise, I began to document a close group of artist friends from around the world. A distinctive behavior emerged in this natural safe container: being instead of doing, deep presence with the elements, contemplative movement, and embodied awareness. By gradually stripping away our diverse cultural makeups, we returned to our atavistic roots and consciously became nature. Because we are nature.
However, it didn't take me long to realize that part of the comfort granted to us was in fact the flip side of a darker truth: the loss of biodiversity due to deeply rooted human cultural traditions. According to a 2020 study by WWF, snares pose a greater threat to animals in Southeast Asia than habitat degradation from logging.
In Southeast Asia, our nature immersions are not accompanied by those amazing sounds that give goosebumps—sounds present in biodiversity-rich tropical forests. Songbirds in the region have become the subject of excessive, culturally ingrained consumption for trade, singing competitions, pets, status symbols, export, traditional medicine, and food.
The project reflects the paradoxical reality of a shared, poetic experience: the blissful rewilding of our bodies I and a group of friends underwent on a temporarily isolated tropical island, set against the backdrop of wildlife extinction in the silenced forests of southern Thailand.
*some of the photographs shown here were taken during nature immersions with "Being Nature With Dolores Dewhurst-Marks" .
Photo of me performing a caged being yearning for freedom, by Olivia Pino
