RE-SPIRIT
Re-Spirit is an intimate and emotive response to those moments in which nature makes me feel alive. Nature has the power to make all of us feel alive, because we are a part of nature.
We connect ourselves to her trees and seas through respiration. When we inhale, we gratefully accept the oxygen that she provides to us and, upon exhaling, we release the carbon dioxide that she needs in return. To re-spire, or re-spirit, is to reconnect our body with nature and to fill our lungs with air. However, it also means so much more.
Starting during the pandemic of 2020, I began to realise that nature not only breathes with us, but she offers a safe space for reflection, peace, and solace during times of turbulence and unease. Nature is a refuge in the storm of modern life; she slows our racing minds and grounds our anxious bodies.
I wanted to capture this living relationship between myself, and the nature around me. But how would I immortalise these living, breathing spaces and the connection that I have forged with them?
I started by noticing and interpreting the landscapes I found myself in. From blues, greens, pinks, and purples to oranges, yellows, browns, and reds. Textures of bark, rock, and sand, to the patterns of trees, leaves, water, and waves. I threw my emotions across the canvas of my viewfinder to try and depict what could not truly be described. This abstract way of working nourished my creativity. Yet, I wanted other people to understand these emotions too, or to at least uncover their own response to what I was experiencing through my eyes, lens, and soul. I had to push myself to understand this experience, and what nature truly meant to me.
What I learned was more than just how I felt about nature, but also how nature felt about me. Nature waits for me patiently. She does not judge me when I make mistakes. She talks to me through salty spray on white-tipped waves and twinkling light on the restless sea. She reassures me through the gentle breeze that tousles my hair and kisses of warmth on a crisp winter’s day. She encourages me through the strength of her earth beneath my feet, and through her voice in my soul which whispers to keep going, just one more step. Nature allows me to re-spirit and fill not just my lungs with air, but my soul with life, and to find reasons to live in a fast-paced world where so many of us struggle to fit in.
Through uncovering my own relationship with nature, my project was able to evolve into this resulting body of work. Simple, fleeting, focused, and intimate, my photos shifted from the portrayal of a disconnected and misunderstood relationship with nature to that of a grounded, relatable, and universal connection with that which is much greater than us.
In sharing these moments of feeling alive, I hope that these photos serve as a catalyst to encourage you to find your own connection with nature, and with what makes you feel alive. I at least hope to open the door to finding your own sense of self in a world where the ability to think our way through life has become more important than the ability to feel it.