To be perfectly honest, the sewing circles only represented art a as a practice of liberation, embodiment, and healing in a surface level way for me. It was as if I was hoping to find meaty flesh behind the paper I pushed the needle through, but found only empty air. The circles could have been more than they were, but were quiet meetings primarily composed of students and professors that were exposed long ago to these ideas of harvest. It was a drop in the Northland bubble.
I do not mean to say that the circles were worthless, just that they could have been more. This said, the end product of the project is what I have found to be most meaningful and most a manifestation of art as liberation. The Alvord is a wonderful place for the photographs and quotes to be, as I have already witnessed a curious audience. People that would normally have no interest in such a topic or no reason to look into it are being exposed to the ideas of our harvesters. This is tremendous! It is the first step with change.
Growing up I was a city dweller, and by the time I reached Northland my idea of food consisted of Lays potato chips and Kraft mac and cheese. I had never run into the concept of anything more than that, and Growing Connections changed everything for me. The point here is that if I had not seen or heard something that tipped me off to the fact that food is important, I would never have been able to know, or talk about it, or vote with my wallet. Those images and quotes certainly have the potential to plant seeds in people’s minds.
The circles certainly represented art as a practice of embodiment in the sense that the embroidery is a physical process, and that we took them physically into the community. The latter is what seems to be key, along with the fact that the photographs were of harvesters and of the harvest itself. This form of embodiment is nowhere near as powerful as Marina Abramovic’s work, nor is it vulnerable. However, it is important and essential in making oneself and oneself’s ideas accessible, visible, and potentially impactful. This is the second tremendous piece! Without this, there is no pebble thrown, and no outward flowing ripples.
As for the sewing circles representing art as a practice of healing, they do so in that they were not angry events. They were moments in which community was encouraged and participated in. This project was not inspired by anger at the wrongs of the world or by resentment. It was inspired by the passion of love for community, food, and Earth. The message of the project is one of love, wholeness, and healing. This may be most key of all.
Overall I see this project as one of the many stitches in the Northland/Ashland fabric of food consciousness. As I expressed in my post on art as a practice of liberation, each stitch is essential! I have found that our project displayed as a whole, and the fact that we did this in the first place, is beautiful and important.