THE SEED
Have you ever carried something so heavy…it quietly changes who you are? The way you speak. The way you move. The way you exist in the world.
This project was inspired by the founder of the Manas Collective and her journey, a difficult path that led to transformation, as the land held her story and offered strength.
How It Began
This project was inspired by the difficult healing journey our family went through after Mahala was assaulted while she was in college.
In the months before speaking her truth in court, she prepared her mind and spirit to bring clarity and strength. Many of these lessons came from teachers with Indigenous roots, guiding her to reconnect with the land.
One important practice was releasing to the earth what she no longer needed to carry. She explained to her mother, who was struggling with anger and sorrow, that those emotions could not shape what came next. She was not releasing them for anyone else, she was returning them to the earth so they could decompose and give way to new growth.
The installation expands this private act into a collective one, inviting others to return what has been carried, without spectacle or explanation, and to bring forward what wishes to live.
Mahala’s experience of releasing what could no longer be carried and trusting the earth to hold it became the seed of The Listening Field.
Artist Statement
To read more about the vision, origins, and process behind the project, download the artist statement.
