Rock Channelling
I walk for long periods of time in places of geological interest and wrap my body to blend with the shape of the natural, temporal landscape and practice deep listening, Boulders, mountains, and peak faults have formed, eroded and formed again over epochs. Rocks have a connection to humans, animals, plants and the universe. They shape-shift and can tell us about Earth’s natural and industrial history and the practice of human labour; my ancestors worked in granite mines, in difficult conditions.
I lay with rock formations to feel a physical and textual connection to Earth’s materials as an intimate, imaginative, meditative experience of deep listening, a practice of channelling geological time and its connection with the universe
What is more ticklish? Limestone, serpentine or granite?
My childhood was spent walking weekly, in the mountains of Wales and on the coast, and I learnt from a young age, how to connect with a moving planet, walking and being with rock, enabled me to feel grounded with Earth, it offered a sense of equality, rather than hierarchy.
The practice of Rock Channelling began as a remote walking collaboration with Clare Qualmann, to mark a coming out of a period of restricted movement. Clare walked London’s financial district and I walked the rocky beach at Ravenscar through to Robin Hood’s Bay. My daughter, Amaiie, 15 years of age during the pandemic, began to take photographs of my practice and capturing the experience became an important aspect of the project. We have written a poetic reflection on these experiences in the publication The New Poetics of Space
I continue to wrap body around geological rock as a committed practice.
Rock Channelling is available to book as an artist’s talk, visual exhibition or as a collaborative workshop to experience the practice together.
Image credits
Ravenscar, North Yorkshire and Cwm Idwal, North Wales: Amalie Iona.
Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall: Clare Qualmann.
Stamsund, Lofoten Islands, Norway: Nikoline Spjelkavik.
