I am interested in the words and concepts that have been used for centuries by various indigenous communities to describe the more-than-human world and their relationship to it, as I believe that these terminologies influence, as much as they reflect, this very relationship. I believe these words can inspire our ways of relating to the more-than-human world, and inspire new concepts for building a more symbiotic society.
Yet I am naïve if I believe that I can always tell the difference between inspiration and appropriation.
This painting was motivated by this very dichotomy, between a strong desire to draw inspiration from Native American cultures and cosmologies, and the recognition that this desire might constitute an act of cultural appropriation, thus sharing DNA with the appropriative and exploitative drives that have fueled colonialism for centuries.
Follow-ups:
- How to differentiate between inspiration and cultural appropriation?
- Can we (re-)create a sense of sacredness and a spirituality that shelters the ecosystems all life depends on in the secularized Western world?
- Do we have to invent new words for the latter to emerge, or can we borrow from other cultures?
