Tied Together
Open Access DepositedIn an era of increasing alienation, commodification and automation, how can art help people connect across differences to co-create more wholesome and loving possibilities? "Tied Together," a retrospective thesis of social practice art projects, advocates for socially-engaged, interdisciplinary art’s role in catalyzing a turn from extractive human and resource economies to a regenerative, sustainable and equitable society. Because our challenges are as complex and interconnected as we are, the interventions weave together many modalities and strands of practice. "Preserves" presented a gallery show of fruit skins that were dried and reconstructed or altered with traditional sewing techniques. "More than a Score" gathered community members for a series of hour-long, holistic self-care sessions. "Acornucopia!" was an installation and series of events teaching visitors how the bitter oak seed can become nutritious food, inviting play and creativity, and inspiring awe at nature, her bounty and the ingenuity of our acorn-eating ancestors. "Landing in Piscataway Terrain" convened a semester-long cohort of 16 student fellows from to connect with native ecology and Piscataway culture through service learning at Piscataway Park, a US National Park and traditional Piscataway land stewarded by the Accokeek Foundation. The eponymous "Tied Together" was an interactive, multidisciplinary installation in which community members from throughout GW’s Corcoran School of the Arts and Design contributed old t-shirts and worked together to upcycle them into a hammock, representing our ability to rest in the strength of our shared connections and interdependence. These works are discussed and analyzed as to their use of narrative structure and mindful moments informed by spiritual traditions like Judaism and Buddhism, an earthly lens inspired by Indigenous wisdom and natural systems, and an ethic of care that uplifts the inherent dignity of all. "Tied Together," in its entirety, highlights art’s unique capacity for bringing individuals together to connect in shared action, their own sensual and embodied experience, and the more-than-human realms of our interconnected ecologies and mysteriously Divine universe.
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