A video and sound installation in development by Nicole Betancourt and Bray Poor exploring the human body as a microcosm of the Earth through the experiences of loss, illness, and healing. Grieving for the ravages of climate change, like grieving for lost abilities with a chronic illness, is ongoing and often involves fears about an uncertain future. “Unfixing” refers to moving out of a fixed position created by fear as a reaction to pain – a shift in perspective allowing pain, but also healing and connection.
I got lost in it in a way that allowed me to take/make my own journey, prompted, inspired by the images and sound. As I looped between the installations, I found new images as new north stars and set off. It was a unique thrill.
Andrew Dolan, Electric Ladybug Community Garden Member
As you move around the space, the soundscapes from each installation interact.
TREES
A year in Central Park passes over the course of an hour. Trees viewed from the perspective of illness - laying down. Branches are a fractal.
BED
A body confined in bed, losing days and abilities. Projected onto bed sheets, a six-minute video of Nicole's isolation over her seven years with a debilitating chronic illness, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). Isolation becomes an initiation to a deeper understanding of allowing, listening, and receiving as expressed in the landscape.
MEMORIAL
A memorial to the diverse life on earth that is dying because of climate disaster, human consumption, and waste. The memorial is an invitation to bear witness and to bring an offering of a flower placed on the earth (flower provided).
Pilot created with support from the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA). The installation is part of the film and outreach project "Patterns" which is Women Make Movies project supported by the Karen Toffler Charitable Trust and NYSCA.
Video Engineer: Jeremy Allen
Associate Producer: Liza Miller
Event Filmed by Braulio Jatar
Memorial prompt from Joanna Macy and The Work That Reconnects
Hosted by the Electric Ladybug Garden community
The artists acknowledge that this event was held on unceded indigenous land of the Lanape people.