METAMORPHOSIS (…pathless land…)
Metamorphosis (…pathless land…). A two year long collaboration between four artists (two visual artists and two musicians / writers).
This project is an ongoing collaboration, first initiated by an ArtNet dlr Metamorphosis project, 2020-2021. We worked together during the two first, intense years of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our work represents our own metamorphic process through the Covid lockdowns, exploring the potential, process and transformative power of these times.
Unable to meet in person, we met regularly on Zoom, and through a WhatsApp chat, sharing thoughts, images, sounds and videos as well as links to other sources which resonated with us on the theme of Metamorphosis. The pandemic allowed us to go inwards; to draw on our inner resources and chart internal changes – the ‘pathless land’ of the title.
We spent time where we could in nature, and natural cycles became an inspiration, as well as the concept of creating collections from nature, so beloved of the Victorians. We homed in on four key words or concepts: seed, egg, meander and feminine energy, which we each followed in our own way, creating sketches and, ultimately, finished pieces, which come together in a Victorian Hang.
Starting out in July 2020 our collaboration went through several phases.
Research Phase #1
Our WhatsApp conversations has been a thread running through the entire creative process.
Research Phases #2-5
By late 2020 our ideas were becoming more focused, as we homed in on four key concepts: Seed, Egg, Meander, and Feminine Energy. These four areas of focus generated visual and audio sketches, some of which became finished pieces of work.
Final Phases
In the late spring of 2021 we honed our ideas and brought together the final piece – a ‘Victorian hang’ of visual imagery plus a 30-minute soundtrack in 4 parts. The soundtrack can be listened to in its entirety, as a meditative experience, in conjunction with the visual images, and media work.
The work records our response to the times we were living through, and our dialogues as we got to know each other. By the end, each one of us had contributed both visual and audio work to the final piece: a wonderful alchemy that leaves us all richer both as creative artists and as human beings.
For contact details, and some images of us during the process, see ‘Collaborators’ section.
…pathless land… Soundtrack
A 4-part journey of change: 1. incipit, 2. seed-egg, meander, 3. spiralling, 4. emerging. Beginning with an evocation of an arid landscape with dry seed-sounds, seeds of potential, which incubate and develop, allowing for nourishing, nurturing and a final emergence. This comprises the complete soundtrack for ‘…pathless land… a metamorphosis in 4 parts’.
The soundtrack forms part of ‘Pathless Land’, a multidisciplinary project and installation by Eleanor Dawson, Ashleigh Downey, Justyna Kosmulska and Sylvia Hill, forming part of the ArtNet DLR Metamorphosis project (2020-2021)
A collaboration between Eleanor Dawson, Ashleigh Downey, Sylvia Hill, & Justyna Kosmulska.
Two musicians, a visual artist, and an ecological artist with a socially engaged practice.
