Kotwa
Project: Gni Gnah Loof: Additional heads
so I can see more clearly
Up on the
Piute, the rangers had there work and I as Gni
Gnah Loof was free to explore—I began wandering up slope towards glacial
lakes and Icy fragments drawn ever higher and further off trail by the lure of
a lake more filled by sky, my ability reach fresher vistas, and the swing of my
chime filled bear can—which mediated the spaces between steps and terrain,
breath and motions bodily and geologic.
The rhythms
of passing over stone, the swing of the can, and the arrival at overlooks built
into a trance like progression upward deeper and less cluttered. High above the
tree line in a world of only stone water ice sun and the stirring of grasshoppers—I
found the elusive solitude and its affecting powers—marking my way with only
gesture—leaving only the muted sound of the enclosed wind-chime that stroked
distance and presence with color.
As artist and as wilderness experience
the revelation was that though I performed, performing was not central and
largely vapid—that is to say that an audience that shifted my actions away from
centered experience was superfluous—but not un welcomed for when these gestured
merged with genuine immersion they
had the most value for myself and
any other –the wilderness itself consistently and correctly unaffected and
beautifully indifferent.
Gni Gnah
Loof, is the central quasi-fictional character within the Kotwa Project—This
Kotwa teacher, detective and creator of
rituals walked and climbed over a hundred miles on and off trail. His headdress
of many velvet eyes over mosquito netting obscures his physical vision--but
allows for the establishment of temporal cairns to acknowledge sites of
significance or to serve as a surrogate central fire to gather round.
Wilderness statute insists that all monuments here be temporal, that no fires burn above 10,000 feet of elevation, that no structure are erected, that all signs of human activity (exempting those of ‘heritage’ be erased, and that nature’s placement of stone or pinecone is left undisturbed—Therefore costumed discourse regarding the introduction of the exotics resulting from our presence was my primary tactic-- for anything brought in or along beyond your naked body and desires for survival might be thought of as exotic-alien and therefore intrusive upon the wilderness character—not just what’s in your pack, but also what’s in your head seems non indigenous to these places, for my thoughts were from another world, another plane, one that shifts interests toward human desire and away from unfettered wilderness and its expansive solitude.
Wilderness statute insists that all monuments
here be temporal, that no fires burn above 10,000 feet of elevation, that no
structure are erected, that all signs of human activity (exempting those of
‘heritage’ be erased, and that nature’s placement of stone or pinecone is left
undisturbed—Therefore costumed discourse regarding the introduction of the
exotics resulting from our presence was my primary tactic-- for anything
brought in or along beyond your naked body and desires for survival might be
thought of as exotic-alien and therefore intrusive upon the wilderness
character—not just what’s in your pack, but also what’s in your head seems non
indigenous to these places, for my thoughts were from another world, another
plane, one that shifts interests toward human desire and away from unfettered
wilderness and its expansive solitude.
I encountered
few humans here and when I did we paused together sharing Kotwa gestures (ways
of being in the wilderness in keeping with wilderness character), information
of terrain, and the events or observations of our stays –but mostly simply expressing
the collective wonderment of place.
One of these meeting resulted in:
Duane McDiarmid (second from the left) among the
Calvinists
He was
wandering through the Sierra with a stupendous pack (about 80 pounds, he said),
including three bear canisters. The one in the picture had chimes in it — to
let the bears know one was coming, and since they didn’t want to be circus bears,
his amusing theory was that they would go elsewhere. Another had, apparently,
an accordion. The third had food. He was only carrying the one with the chimes
when we met. He is a fan of using tree leaves as toilet paper (not a bad idea,
although at 11,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada pine needles night be less
effective). A previous enterprise involved a solar-powered ice cream maker in
the midst of the Nevada desert. The idea was to cause some pleasure, but also
to suggest that perhaps we take too much with us into the wilderness.
We wandered
about barren Mesa Lake, then over to Tomahawk Lake, which is definitely worth a
visit. After a pleasant day of wandering about this high, open country, we
headed back to camp.
The Kotwa project 2013, is a series of remote
performances supported by an Aldo and Leonardo Fellowship, Art Ranch and the
Wilderness division of the U.S. Forest Service to commemorate the 50th
anniversary of the Wilderness Act. My fellowship was situated in the John Muir
Wilderness Area. The Wilderness Act includes both highly specific prohibitions
and protections but also the esoteric ‘shape shifting’ language of “maintaining
wilderness character”. But who or what represents wilderness character in our era?
How will we be guided across this terrain? This is the purpose of the Kotwa (Keepers of the Wilderness Act), and
Gni Gnah Loof, (Hanging Fool--a shamanesque instigator and player in the
Wilderness Theater).
My project recorded and fictionalized actions
that sit between the performed and the simple enactments that make up living on
the trail. Like my happenstance audience of Rangers, Hikers and Mule-drivers, I
negotiated the legal statutes, environmental extremes, and a nuanced
role-playing that is a seamless part of ‘Contemporary Wilderness’. Motivated by
a schism of roles, liaison between public and Rangers, interrogator and social
critic of ‘wilderness as a concept’ and individual explorer authentically
seeking the transcendental eureka. I investigated how conditioned
preconceptions, fantasies, fears and the re enactments of prescribed roles
transform the wilderness into a theater--
The documentation of the work (panoramics posted above) interrupt themselves by foregrounding blatantly incongruous visual elements to assert a
fiction that better resembles the situated actions I ‘performed’, for it is not
the prop, performance, documentation but the interaction between site
(sometimes inclusive of ‘audience’) and self that is where this work resides.
snapshots:
bear can with wind chime
headdress atop bear can
headdress carin in wind
bear can with wind chime's rope handle
bear can swinging chime
bear can swinging chime & shadow
as Gni Gnah Loof, near glacial remains
snapshots:
bear can with wind chime
headdress atop bear can
headdress carin in wind
bear can with wind chime's rope handle
bear can swinging chime
bear can swinging chime & shadow
as Gni Gnah Loof, near glacial remains
not just what’s in your pack, but also what’s in your head seems non indigenous to these places" love that.
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