Landscape in the figure

Abstract

This article asks whether we can make embodied sense of the Anthropocene, and if so, how we might locate ourselves in a more empathic relationship with the non-human world? By feeling, at the personal scale, the part we play in the natural systems that support life, we may become more able to make the necessary changes in our actions to address the global-scale degradation of nature. I discuss somatic and creative practices that offer tools for cultivating a sense of presence in and as nature, giving examples of artists’ creative practices, including some of my own choreographic explorations aiming to embody the ‘landscape in the figure’.

Keywords

• Presence
• Embodiment
• Creativity