Reflecting on the ecology of our artistic practice
If your arts practice is a body, how do its systems function?
Over the years, we have developed various systems of reflecting upon our practice and the wider contexts it functions within. We shared some of the methods we use with a group of artists and cultural workers as part of a Bow Skills Workshop.
Working through a new body of work that we have developed over the past couple of years, building out new systems of reflection for artists that are grounded in time and the human body. Together, we considered what reflecting and feeling through bodily systems like the digestive, circulatory, and nervous system encourage us to ask of ourselves and help us identify what nourishes and feels out of balance in the ecology of our artistic practices.
We discuss the role of creative ‘collaboration’ in all senses of the word – whether with other artists, institutions, organisations, or communities – and think through how we can nurture systems of support for artists working in this way. Before ending with a conversation about learning and education programmes within galleries and institutions and how we can extrapolate new systems and ways of doing otherwise into this work.
You can download the resource we use to reflect on the ecology of our own practice here. These have been inspired by pirate.care.syllabus.
Workshop images: