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Guilt Release

2016 

In a piece of writing by Starhawk, titled Our Place in Nature, she critiques a view of the human relationship to nature. The view, which she believes causes further damage, is the view that “humans are worse than nature, that we are a blight on the planet, and that nature is better off without us." This feeling of guilt can even be subconscious, impacting us in ways that we are unaware of. Starhawk proposes that this view only widens the constructed separation between humans and nature, which relieves us of the responsibility to “develop a healthy relationship with nature and to play an active role in nature’s healing” (Starhawk, 2002). Through their interaction with this piece, I aimed to provide participants with a way to embody and release their guilt.

Interaction: Participants went underneath the stage (into the unconscious), thanked the trees for their help in this process, channeled their guilt, and pushed the cardboard arrow upward until it breached the surface of the stage (symbolically releasing their guilt). 

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