Earthling

"The imminent and expected destruction of the life cycle of world ecology can be prevented by a radical shift in outlook from our present naive conception of this world as a testing ground of abstract morality to a more mature view of the universe as a comprehensive matrix of life forms."

- Vine Deloria, Jr. God is Red, 1973

Earthling performance at MIT building 7, Art, Culture and Technology Program, photo by Chelsea Polk, June 2019

Earthling is a character, a person, a being, at once playful and unnerving, who uses sound to claim space.

Earthling with thundertube, 2019

Earthling is a reminder, that underneath people's closely held ideas, underneath the systems that capitalize upon us and colonize us, our adopted ideologies, we are earth-based beings.

We are not just of the earth – we are the earth.

Earthling Mask

acrylic and architectural model vegetation on canvas

2019

Human understanding has come far away from the reality that we are not separate from the earth. How would our responsibilities to ourselves, each other and our world change if this reality was the basis of our collective thought and action?

Earthling in Joy Parade through Boston, by artist Nick Cave, photo courtesy Now + There, 2019

Looking back through history, all cultures of the world stem from earth-based ways of knowing. For the past couple centuries, earth-based ways have been targeted for erasure and indeed nearly erased by dominant societal forces, in order to prop up false hierarchies. Part of the decolonization process involves understanding this historical perspective, and working to shed those ideologies that have been harmful to us and the world around us.

Earthling drawing waves, at Futurity Island: Amphibian Pedagogies and Submberged Perspectives, MIT Walker Memorial, photo by Juan Necochea, 2019

Earthling drawing waves using pipestone pigment, at Futurity Island sound sculpture photo by Juan Necochea, 2019

Can we shift our orientation to creating economies, scientific practices, technology, social structures and culture that is based upon this fundamental aspect of life?

Earthling asks us to consider these questions. Earthling has been performed at "Futurity Island: Amphibian Pedagogies and Submberged Perspectives" at MIT, organized by Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas in collaboration with Indrė Umbrasaitė, Nicole L’Huillier and Tobias Putrih. Earthling appeared in artist Nick Cave's "Augment: Joy Parade" organized by Now + There and Ds4si in Boston.

Embodying transformation with the earthling mask and a water soundscape, March 2019