Shades Of Earth

dir. by Montana Catherine, Dorte Van Duijn, United States/Canada
runtime: 3 min

Shades of Earth is an experiment with letting nature overcome mind. While in a residency in Nova Scotia, I had to relearn the land, reestablish my surroundings and overcome challenges I had never faced before. Being alone for two weeks, I listened to the land in a new way that I was not familiar with in Maine, leading me to work with the land in another way. I came across some red cliffs where things felt right, where mind and landscape came together. Shades of Earth is about speaking with, and combining myself with the earth. I became one with the beeswax and salt, working together in a combination that felt safe and mutual. The video is a ritual piece that plays and shares communion with the land around me.

Credits

Directors Statement

As an artist in this ever-changing world, I must be as malleable as the earth beneath me to continue creating. I mainly focus on video performance work, with sculptural integrity, to form reconciliation with the natural world. My practice consists of gathered, found, and altered materials, site specificity, space, and the human body. Often my practice focuses on our natural world, but I am drawn to all art forms and creativity. Ceramics, drawing and painting are all part of my practice, as well as more abstract and conceptual ideas that come to me in the form of dreams. I like to challenge myself, and others through my work to question our reality, and to not take everything at face value. It is important to me that we as the human race experiment and play, as I believe it is the only true way to stay as open as possible to the flows and energies of this universe. Like many, I am uncertain what the future holds for me in the uneasy society I live in today. Through art, I can find stability in my surroundings and cultivate a cosmic divinity with our world.

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