Mantras and Mahabhutas
Carroll Gallery, Tulane University, 2022*Note: mahabhutas is Sanskrit for “great elements.”
Mantras and Mahabhutas is an installation based on the ELEMENTS series I began in 2021, exploring experimental methods of instant photography through the utilization of the five elements: air, fire, earth, water, and ether. These were all taken on a Polaroid Spectra camera on expired Polaroid instant film. Time is evidenced through the entire process, with different layers of intention: sometimes the process takes 3 days, a week, a moon cycle… The outcome is always different but the feeling is always the same. An intentional recording of time, occurrence, a happening. A change has been made here.
It was important to show the process — the objects and energies that are manipulated, the cycles that create and maintain patterns, and of course, all that which is expressed. The elements are represented in a variety of vessels that align with their energies. The mantras shared here are two of the most powerful sayings that I currently repeat:
“I welcome all forms of abundance into my life. Everything that is meant for me, will be. And so it is.” - this is my own personal mantra, a daily affirmation.
“All that you touch you change. Everything you change changes you.” - a quote from Octavia Butler’s visionary guide Parable of the Sower.
They are written over and over again as a visual representation of the time that passes and the work that occurs both seen and unseen.
I am creating from an intuitive urge, based on temporality and communicated as a feeling, with elements as my co-creator and guide. Once the Polaroid is immersed I have no say, no control — and can only wait to see what will become. As I learn to lean into and trust this process, I, too, am becoming.
Mantras and Mahabhutas
Mixed Media Installation
(Polaroids, Fire, Air, Earth, Water, Glass, Copper, Found Materials, Paz the Pothos)
Varied Dimensions
2022