Shedding

Living much of our modern lives engrossed in digital experiences, Shedding is an interactive installation that invites participants to be present. Creating space to inquire, observe, respond, and interact with curiosity, the floating objects encourage play by reflecting light on different surfaces as the participants move them. On nature walks in southern Spain, I collected discarded palm husks to combine with holographic vinyl. These shells have intruguing organic patterns I was drawn to, that contrast with the sharp, smooth vinyl. Leaving their natural shapes as they are, the vinyl is used to complement the husks, together becoming another form altogether, a larger floating entity composed of many fragments.

Reflecting on our relationship to nature, there are cycles we’re inextricably linked to; through water, land, matter and energy, we’re constantly forming, re-forming and transforming each other. How does existing in the same physical space and moment in time unite us to the matter around us? How can we share the experience of existence? Striving to move away from digital distractions, how can we learn to just be with ourselves and the physical world around us? Seeing play as a tool for survival, what can emerge from existing in this headspace? What happens when we allow ourselves to be unrestricted, unbound and truly free?

The work explores how we can reconnect with our physical bodies, encouraging the creation of magic with our own hands and the world around us. It invites us to shed outer shells of expectations and be present with what is before us.