Nané Ariadne Jordan

Placenta Projects - Earth antennae for better commune-ication

My artistic and creative scholarly work is increasingly focused towards artful and ecological ‘philosophies of birth’ from within general amnesia/anesthesia of birth's creative female/feminine generative imaginary, and lost connections to the Earth itself. Such philosophies of birth contrast with a pervasive Western philosophical focus on mortality and political economies of death. I am interested in the human fact of being birthed and born in relation to such maternal 'spaces', in how re-centering birth and body knowledge from female origination in its blood roots/rites (Judy Grahn) might contribute to understandings of living interconnection, gift economy, ecology, and “love itself” (Hélène Cixous). Ettinger’s matrixial theory resonates with my own grasping at the significance of birth, towards responses that recognize female/feminine subjectivities and the origination of birth-ly and Earthly wisdom that is experienced by both sexes and all genders within the act of being born.

The placenta project marks interstitial zones of human and natural worlds - our co-creation of each other. From a working background in lay midwifery, an art practice in photography and mixed media textiles, and academic studies into women’s spirituality, birth experiences and ecofeminist philosophy, the placenta emerged intuitively in my art work and research as a central body parable that might commune with a philosophy of birth within Earthly relations. The placenta is the central inter-facing, relational organ of gestation between mother and child. Human placental morphology (growth and form) pays homage to the growth of trees in their branching, rooting forms that seek an interchange of nourishment through elements of air, water and minerals between life forms.  

I came to our 2010 Gestare residency with a series of placental-like forms I created from red dyed and felted wool. These include long hand-spun, umbilical-like chords that reach towards the Earth as primal source of life. I found myself in an ecstasy of warm summer days as I installed placenta communities into trees, onto the beaches and into the lake water. I floated some, womb-like, on the shores of Lake Ontario, documenting my placenta installations as 'events' of communion with elementals of lake water, rocks, sandy beaches and trees—earthly/birth-ly reminders.