ÆSTHESIA is a project that in the span of 4 years has developed from a one-off collaboration with a musical friend into a life long series and lifestyle change. For those of you that are confused by this strange emboldened name starting off today’s passage let me explain. In a nutshell, ÆSTHESIA is a multi-sensory body of work that explores the therapeutic benefits of plants. I act as an executive producer who designs the concept and work with a team of collaborators to develop the sensory experience of different plants including: compositions of their sound vibrations, their scent, taste, and sight via photos and videos.
As mentioned, this work evolved from a previous series started with electronic musician (and my Miami transplant friend) ALURIA. In March, 2015, after a night spent catching up since both having recently moved to New York we realized that we needed to create something together. I began researching about sound vibrations and came up with an idea involving the Solfeggio Frequencies (a tuning system used in Ancient Gregorian chants) and making a collection of songs and videos together. 2 years later we completed SYNÆSTHESIA, a 6-channel video and sound collection and had our first solo exhibition smack dab in the middle of Manhattan!
Looking back, it felt like within days of seeing that show go up it became crystal clear what our next steps were going to be. There was something magical about this work, it was different then anything I had ever done before. It had a life beyond me, beyond ALURIA, beyond anyone that had been involved in its physical creation. It felt like the work had called on us to bring it to life and help it become fully realized. Once we saw all of the videos playing in one space at the same time, hearing the lulling sounds echoing throughout the space, seeing these floral meditation circles outlined on the floor, the work was about the plants. We didn’t know it but it had always been about the plants and finding a connection with the natural world around us, and so we were going to try again.
Installations images of SYNÆSTHESIA solo exhibition at Gallery 151, NYC, 2017
ÆSTHESIA “Medicinal Flower Collection”
ÆSTHESIA is a Greek root origin word meaning “sensation or feeling”. We changed the name of the work to this because the work was new now. Sure, it had the same visual approach and the same focus on multi-sensory experiences, but instead of a central core around the Solfeggio Frequencies we were going to record the vibrations of the plants in the videos for audio and include scent and taste elements as well. Since beginning seriously in 2017, the process of researching for ÆSTHESIA - diving deep into the world of plants and botany, learning about all the ways humans have thought about them, imagined them, learned from them, experimented with them, manipulated and mutilated them - it has been life-altering.
I grew up in North Carolina, deep in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. You could say I had a typical countryside childhood, playing in creeks, climbing trees, hiking and camping, running around with friends. But the moment I entered middle school and a world of ballet/competitive dance everything changed. I became introduced to Julliard and New York and all it’s glamorous wonders; my heart and head were sold. Overnight the countryside went from rolling landscapes for imaginary ship battles to lifeless untamed patches of grass and shrubbery . Nature seemed slow and dull to me, a place of the past in comparison to the electricity and constant movement of the city. I proceeded to make it my number one goal to move to NYC and pursue a life there in some way.
By age 22, I did in fact make it to the city and went on to work a string of jobs in the upper-crust fashion and art industries. One of those jobs happened to be working night shifts at prominent fashion photo-studio, Pier59. Many of the clients would buy beautiful flower arrangements for the waiting areas of their celebrity talent on set for the day and then throw them away once everything was wrapped. I couldn’t bear to see such beautiful creations be tossed so before I clocked out each night I would save them from waste bins and end up bringing home several large shopping bags bursting with bouquets. It’s no coincidence that these same flowers would eventually end up in my photos and videos.
At the time that I was bringing these beauties home from the studio and working them into my own art I never once considered them as anything more than another prop and/or new temporary room decor. I never thought about the fact that they were once life structures, growing from the roots of the Earth, and then suddenly cut down one day, shipped to a flower shop in Manhattan, bought by a florist, built into an arrangement, delivered to Pier59 Studios, thrown into the trash and then in their last moments of life picked up by me. I never thought about how this plant never decided to grow because it wanted to decorate our photos or tables or corners of otherwise empty rooms. This plant decided to grow because that is what plants do - they grow. For themselves. For their species survival. They are not here for us and our entertainment and they do not need us to continue being here. In fact, they’d probably be better off if we weren’t.
This thought did not really dawn on me until 2017 when I started researching for ÆSTHESIA and reading the book The Secret Life of Plants by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird. It has changed the way I think about everything. Without plants we would not exist. I rely on them and yet I have regarded them so casually, as though they were put here for my own visual pleasure and art for art’s sake bullshit. I trash the earth that I rely on for survival daily. It is shocking how far climate change has intensified due to ignorance, greed, and exploitation of resources that when exhausted will undoubtedly result in our death. It is shocking to me that I know this but have chosen to often ignore it on a daily basis, in part due to how overwhelming this fact really is.
These are the things I think about every day now. Not about my next art show, or connecting with the right curator, networking, posting enough, or submitting to contests and grants. Now I think about how can I cut down on my carbon footprint more. How can I get more involved with community and global efforts to help save the soil. How can I help save these plants that I have grown so fascinated by and fond of. That I have grown to love in so many different ways. What can I do to actually help make the world better? Not a better place, but better, healthier. How can I help heal it? And that is not something that you can do in the confides of your home or behind a computer screen or in a gallery. You have to get out and get your hands dirty. You have to take physical action. You also have to educate yourself, something I feel many people stop doing after they get out of school, and I admittedly have done the past few years while immersing myself in hustle and grind of being in the New York “art world”.
Behind the scenes from the making of ÆSTHESIA, 2017-2019
Through the making of ÆSTHESIA many things have changed. My priorities have changed. I have changed. I used to proudly described myself as someone who thrived off of stress, but after a serious burn out last year I really began to slow down and spend more time outside with nature. Nearly a year later I can confidently say that my stress levels have dropped significantly to a point that I finally broke a nasty life long habit of stress nail-biting.
In evenings and weekends I am now reading as often as I can about the world of plants or watching nature and climate documentaries instead of going out to bars or late night events. The way that I eat and the amount of waste I produce has dropped considerably. And most excitedly for me, I see a future now where my art can exist away from the city, without the validation of the fine art market, and still be doing something that I feel fulfilled by. I feel excited about the idea of making art for purposes that are beyond making art for people who like art. Not that there is anything wrong with that at all, I certainly have my fair share of art for art sake creations, but now it feels like there is so much more.
Today, ÆSTHESIA has developed 6 experiences for our “Medicinal Flower Collection” (Marigold, Wild Rose, Tiger Lily, Echinacea, Lavender, Chamomile). This collection has been installed in rehab clinics, universities, galleries, film festivals, and is continuing to develop into new experiences for cross-country shows, workshops, and data gathering group studies. We are beginning to work directly with hospitals and health clinics and are diving into different types of plants ranging from house plants to carnivorous, endangered, edible, poisonous, muck crops, and species that rely on bee’s as pollinators.
Right now, the team and I are working on new videos, sounds, and shows. I will continue to use this News platform to keep you up to date on my research for this work, behind the scenes material, new content and shows. I’m also open to hearing any thoughts or feelings that you may have on this work. Are there certain plants or plant species you are interested in learning more about? How is the work making you feel when you watch it or listen to it? Or even reach out to just say hello, the team and I would love to hear from you! ÆSTHESIA has been such a community experience and the more we hear from you the more we understand how to make ways that can help us all connect more with nature. If you aren’t familiar with ÆSTHESIA just click the button below to watch the previews of the first six videos and hear the sounds of some of the worlds most medicinal flowers.