The work “The Healing” was temporarily exhibited during the pandemic in places that also deal with healing, treatment, care, and compassion—places where healing is sorely needed. This allowed for the experimental exploration of ideas and raised questions such as: How do images work? Can visual art heal or contribute to healing? How can one even act positively during this time? Moving beyond the purely artistic context, this work extended into other social spheres and contributed to healing and wholeness, beauty, positive visions, and socially relevant action.
The fragility of life was very much present and clearly palpable during the turbulent time of the pandemic. Life suddenly felt raw, marked by great vulnerability, and seemed to be under a latent threat. Death danced more visibly through the world. Nothing was easy anymore. Things we took for granted? Gone. Everything was being rearranged, often painfully. Two major crises—COVID-19 and climate change—began to sweep humanity off the planet. The ground shook, and it hasn’t stopped since.
In early summer 2020, a period of great uncertainty, the work *The Healing* was created: genuine medicinal plants, gifts of nature, can be found by the wayside. You just have to look—look closely—and then there are opportunities. In this performance using the human body, vulnerability is revealed, but so is an opportunity to draw positive strength—without becoming kitschy. The following plants feature in the piece: Matricaria chamomilla (common chamomile), Urtica dioica (stinging nettle), Silene dioica (red campion, also known as “God’s blood”), Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s wort), and Valeriana officinalis (true valerian).
