Pink sears flashes of summer across a mist drenched valley. The roses are blooming out of season here in North Wales in a mostly mild and wet winter. Last week’s cold snap broke fast with the arrival of storms Jocelyn and Isha, who kicked up a whirlwind of mayhem and chaos. Good for them, some might say. The tradition of naming storms after women has received a small but significant ecofeminist backlash over the years. Womens’ anger and energy is seen as out of place. Unreasonable, destructive, chaotic.
It is not exactly anger, but some kind of unfamiliar wildish energy I feel rising up this January – an unfamiliar weather system which spins and spits out cold, clear truths at will. When these outbursts are over I rest in my own calm after the storm, as recent life changes continue to recondition my energetic field. In the midst of whirlwinds I am flooded with new feelings and sensations, yet appear to not be drowning in them for once. On the flip side of exhaustion, this body remembers being a pretty strong swimmer.
These tidal waves follow starting a full time PhD last year, which is undergoing an an important change in direction. Layers of new physicality and thought patterns have lead me to discover the concept of A/r/tography: a concept founded by Canadian academic and artist Rita L. Irwin. This intriguing term means to combine the roles of (a)rtist, (r)esearcher and (t)eacher. The ‘graphy’ part means to record, write or capture meaning. A/r/tography immediately spoke to me as something that might be a lot more active and fun than being an artist; it makes me feel explorative and curious. Quite quickly this idea has woven into new thoughts for collective creative research that excite me so much more than making my own art or working way too hard at being an ‘artist’.
Sometimes curiosity and energy have to lead the way without thinking too much. After a research skills module last semester about writing abstracts for academic papers, I wrote and submitted one to the Therapeutic Landscapes: Ritual, Folklore and Myth conference in Worcester this March. To my delight-terror it was accepted, and quite early in my research I must now quickly learn how to write a practice-based academic paper and present it (gulp). This work has some fairly energetic core ideas, such as guiding a group of fledgling a/r/tographers on a walk up Llangollen’s Dinas Brân later this week. Through the lens of a/r/tography, we will explore local folklore and create a shared resource for creative practice. Here is a rambling little film I made briefly covering the main ideas around a/r/tography for my group walk. Please excuse the intro waffle! You can also find some links below to more resources.
Keeping the energy up is obviously what’s required here, whilst taking care. Winter is not a time to get too carried away with these things. As a traditional herbal remedy, Rose speaks softly;
Rose for the heart / Rose for grief / Rose for anxiety / Rose for healing / Rose for sorrow / Rose for compassion / Rose for love.
Making waves is fun, but what really needs to reverberate at this time of year is intelligence of the heart. A/r/tography has a beautiful core concept; the idea that through these multi-layered practices we might create ‘renderings’. In this context, renderings mean opening up reciprocal spaces of engagement, or portals that might allow us to ‘be’ and ‘experience’ research, art making or socially engaged work on deeper levels. There are a number of renderings defined by Rita L. Irwin and pals, one of which is ‘reverberations’. This idea means to create things that reverberate, sending out energy and vibrations into time, space and communities. One beautiful interpretation of this is to “shake meaning to the surface” (Aoki, 1996).
“To render, to give, to present, to perform, to become–offers for action, the opportunity for living inquiry. Research that breathes. Research that listens. (…) Renderings are theoretical spaces through which to explore artistic ways of knowing and being research.”
(Springgay et al, 2005)
Sometimes the heart needs a real shake-up before true expression can arise. It is in the aftermath of the storm, of wild emotion and loss of control that creative desire begins to find an authentic language. It is with care and heart that I wish you tenacity in these changing climates, and the love you need to weather out storms and wildfires ‘till Spring.
“We need to learn how to practice love such that care—for ourselves and others—is understood as political resistance and cultivating resilience.”
Adrienne Maree Brown, Pleasure Activism
Thank you for reading. If you are a creative, environmental or wellness practitioner interested in the ideas of a/r/tography, do reply to this email, as I will be organising some online sessions along these lines later in 2024. For those wanderers near the Midlands, it would be blissful to see you at the Therapeutic Landscapes conference on the 9th and 10th March. Also look out for an upcoming “What is Ecofeminism” online talk and workshop, date tbc. I did not have the vocal staying power to record this month’s newsletter as audio! Hopefully the February edition will reach you in full multi-media glory.
Aoki, T. T. (1996). Spinning inspirited images in the midst of planned and live(d) curricula. Fine, 7-14.
Brown, Adrienne Maree (2019). Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good.
Springgay, S., Irwin, R. L., & Kind, S. W. (2005). A/r/tography as living inquiry through art and text. Qualitative Inquiry, 11(6), 897–912. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800405280696
https://www.sutori.com/en/story/a-r-tography--DNNfrJTsFJVkdi1iKPRdRKZG