Human : Nature is a reflection on our relationship between ourselves and our environment, at its most primal, stripped down, elemental level. An observation on how we choose to interact with the natural world when all distractions have been removed. No phones clamoring for our attention, no social media, no emails, television, advertising. When we choose to remove these things from our attention, when we chose to be present in our environment, in our moment, that is when we are truly free to discover. In Japanese culture there is a practice found, called shinrin-yoku, or Forest Bathing.
By simply being present in all of our senses in this natural world, undistracted, we are healthier. Calmer. Peaceful. In our sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, we experience the world unfiltered, as it has always been. Rediscovering something that has been forgotten. Lost. A childlike sense of wonder, perhaps? Of innocence? Of magic? As Henry David Thoreau states, "We need the tonic of wilderness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed, and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of Nature."
There are so many things that you may discover, if you choose to be present in this natural word. And as we come to this place, we come to it as ourselves, and so therefore our paths here and our reactions are as individual as we are. Some who choose to be present here find calm. Peace. Some find spirituality. An inward focus. Some find religion. A sanctuary for their heart and their mind and their body. Some find power. Some find darkness and destruction. All of these things are elements of our natural world. We find, what we choose to seek out. We discover, what we realize we are missing. We choose, to be present, and in that choice, the wonders of nature unfold before us.
What do you wish to discover? What are you waiting for?
Curators
- J Gomez
