It's dirt now.
The answer: you and everything.
Thanks for reading bye x
Nah ok hey, long time no words.
Last year after talking at the CTANZ symposium I wanted to make the next edition of my newsletter a summary of my masters work - which I had just shared at said symposium. I wanted to do this for the many new people I connected with at the event who were added to this mailing list - hello, welcome x - and for those who have known me for a while longer, to get the opportunity to read my deep foray into multispecies philosophy. Trying to fit it into this format, among other things, created a bit of a mental block towards the newsletter. Mostly because any previous writing tends to make me cringe. So I'm not going to write about it. Here's a link to access the whole exegesis instead, enjoy if you wish:
One thing I will write about in relation to it, is that it contains a form of misinformation. I highly rate Tyson Yunkaporta and of course cited some of his work in my exegesis.
Tangent: yes Massey CoCa has us call our big writing pieces for a Master's degree an exegesis, not a thesis, because technically it's not a thesis, but I don't know what an exegesis is and tbh don't care. It's whatever that big document is linked above.
A section I cited from Sand Talk (highly recommend the read) about Ouroboros, the snake that appears to continually eat its own tail, not only makes me cringe the most but is apparently a bit misinformed. According to Tyson in his second book Right Story Wrong Story (also highly recommend) he was solidly checked by a colleague of Nordic Animist culture, Rune. There seems to be a few versions of serpent story that float through what is left of various European cultures. Ouroboros was employed by Tyson and myself to demonstrate how European story systems have set us up to interact with the world in a way that is chaotic and destructive (colonisation etc.) like a snake eating its own tail. Rune refers to the Midgard Serpent or Jörmungandr. In these stories the serpent (rainbow) as an entity of chaos is in constant battle with Thor (lightening) as an entity of order, bringing balance to all things. We put the concept of Ouroboros in a vacuum, but the world is not a vacuum. There's always something to put us in check so long as we're not in a box.
I've recently read another piece of superbly misinformed story telling, much more so than what Tyson got up to. Mutant Message Down Under by Marlo Morgan is probably one of the most dangerous things I've read. The book is posed in a way that makes it seem as though this woman is telling a true story, recounting her experience as a white American woman being taken on a walkabout across Country for three months. All the while having customs of the "Real People" shared with her. When I was given the book I was already incredibly sceptical just from reading the blurb. While reading it though I could feel myself becoming convinced it could be true, almost hoping it was, I suppose. It's really tricky walking the line of damaging New Age beliefs and exploring concepts like multispecies philosophy. Someone like myself could be particularly susceptible to content like this. It contains all of these ways of connecting with land and people, demonstrates the importance of community, ceremony, and healing through caring for each other. A little bit of magic woowoo thrown in too, which I have to admit my dreamy self enjoys fantasising about. Things many of us long for and struggle to find in the societies we live in. After finishing it I of course had to go do my research. I found extensive reports detailing the damaging nature of the book, the amounts of money Marlo made off of it, and Aboriginal organisations literally saying under Aboriginal Law she would die for what she has written and claimed. So anyways I guess don't read it? I would suggest instead reading this report by Dumbartung Corporation if you want to know more about the contents and why it is yuck: https://dumbartung.org.au/mutant-message-down-under-campaign/
Information is so tricky. I think this might be why I find it hard to re share my past work. I think I know some of it is, misguided, not true, or at least no longer relevant. Which is what makes me cringe. I prefer sharing little life experiences that are closer to my current time and context instead. What you read about my little life experiences here is never the whole truth either - its all misinformation from my imperfect memory. The 'truth' is only ever found in the moments that events happen, between the beings that share them. Each perspective never to come together again. All I'm telling you are silly little stories!!
So I did just say many of us find it hard to find community, ceremony and care in our society, and I still think this is true for myself. However, holy moly am I lucky to have experienced one of the most wholesome groups of humans to ever come together. Our beginning could absolutely be the start of a joke, or maybe a horror movie; A group of Pakeha immigrants, an Australian, a French, an Irish and an English all share a bottle of red as they wander down Te Ahumairangi together shortly before midnight. Our dear Eímhín must always know that his friends get home safe, so out of this evening the group of people became "Everyone Gets Home Safe" via whatsapp, and we all got home safe from adventures many more times since that fateful night.
The main reason I am incredibly grateful for these particular people is because they reminded me what art actually is and means. [Just a reminder totally don't listen to me, art is whatever you want it to be but like this meaning means a lot and I'm sharing because it might help? Because it helped me?] Art is this zine that Eímhín made after the evenings events. I had hosted a 'Souped Up Tales' at my place where we consumed soup and everyone read aloud tales, poems, etc.
Here are two of the times Achille 'touched grass' which was more like throwing himself into banks of greenery.
This is art. It is beautiful, it is mostly for those of us who it is meaningful to. Since then we have made many beautiful memories and pieces of 'art' that are only meaningful to those who experienced those moments and times, and that is the meaning of art. Like silly little stories, it is located in a context of time and place that is only to be accessed again as though its a strand of loose thread that you pull from cheaply made clothing.
That being said it doesn't mean the silly little strands of art and stories aren't worth anything to anyone else. Nor does it mean the more serious and big arts aren't meaningful. They are all little observations we piece together make our shared understanding of the world. I wish we made more time for observations. It's what I miss most about making my Master's piece and something I'm yearning to practice again. I spent time over many months observing and contributing to an ecosystem-made piece of art. After it was displayed at Exposure, and then the Micro Mill, I put it on top of a hot compost pile in the earthworms club garden at Massey. That was March 2024 and now, April 2025, there are no traces of it left other than the beam it once hung on and photos. It's dirt now.
The ecosystem is dirt. We are part of the ecosystem. We are dirt.
Since then I've done cool things like Micro Mill, had arts production roles, conducted a council funded community tapestry at Ōtari, and started working as a loom operator. I've felt a bit lost in the art self though. I am so grateful for the opportunities and the people I've met and been impacted by, but there is something about production in our people that bothers me. The need to produce bothers me. To produce for the sake of staying in business, for the sake of being able to call yourself an artist, or a community builder in the city. Some meaning is missing for me there. What about for the sake of making dirt, in no particular time frame, just eventually? I think there is more work for me to do with the spiders and bugs and plants and I think the lovely group of humans I've been yarning about has helped remind me why I went down that outdoor woven pathway in the first place; pure silliness and the experience of connection that it brings. Some of the silliest things are the most meaningful. And I think this is especially true in places where the production snake slithers unchecked by balancing forces.
If you're not one of the 3 friends reading this HI I ALSO LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU ALSO. I'm very lucky to have many meaningful connections in this life. I'm highlighting this little group in particular to A. make a point about art and B. because Amber is leaving us soon. I know this doesn't mean friendship is OVER but I do feel the need to celebrate and mourn this short time and context the four of us made together at this point in our lives. It will never be the same but it will always be beautiful. Always and forever it will exist as a micro ecosystem that has made meaning in the silliest of ways. Here is my favourite silly picture of these three taken by me, pretty self explanatory:
In other news I saw geese migrating the other night. I'd just got back from a late evening walk up and down Te Ahumairangi. It was that stormy day where the valley was just covered in mist and cloud - honestly my favourite weather. It was super windy when I was up on the ridge line but when I got home it was still and quiet. I heard heaps of geese sounds from far away. It kind of sounded like they were down in Ōtari, which was strange, definitely sounds that are out of place for this area. They kept getting closer. I scanned the darkening sky for a good few minutes because I could hear the sounds moving but couldn't see them - I thought they must be above the clouds. Then they sounded super close and I could see them! A flock in their semicircle / arrow formation calling to each other as they flew in a direction between Petone and Eastbourne. I've never seen or heard this in Te Whanganui-a-Tara before. As soon as I lost them to the distance a roar of wind started up from behind them. It made me wonder about their relationship with the winds. Surely migratory birds must know the winds like sea creatures know the currents. Makes you realise you don't really know shit eh. And that's why I have to get back to weaving with the spiders. Those guys know things.
Thanks for getting through this silly little newsletter. This is my first time trying out Ghost so I hope it works ok? All of you have free access to this newsletter of course! If you would like to koha to support me getting back to hanging out with spiders thats cool and I thank you very much but it is very unnecessary. You could share it with a friend? I'll get to the spiders one way or another. As always send me a response please. If you would like. I LOVE those. Theres probably some way for you to unsubscribe via ghost but if theres not let me know, it's unlikely that I'll take it personally. Stay silly, enjoy your meaning while you've got it and I hope you find it if you don't.
Ehehehe byeeeeeeeeee
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