Ecology & Research

This session is free to watch

Performance & Ritual Works

geek warning, requires advanced understanding
Movement not required
Likely neutral
In this session you will look with Fern Shaffer at the 9 year ritual, the materials, locations and purpose.
In 1980, inspired by her interest in Edgar Cayce, Mircea Eliade and Michael Harner, and prompted by ecological concerns shared with her collaborator Othello Anderson, Shaffer began enacting self-designed shamanistic rituals as a form of spiritual intervention. Anderson documented the rituals in sequential photographs that were later exhibited with elements (ceremonial garments and objects) from the performances. Feminist art critic Gloria Feman Orenstein situated Shaffer's work as part of an emerging Ecofeminism movement, describing the rituals as introducing "feminist matristic resonances" intended to create connections and restoration in the sites and communities within which they are enacted. According to Suzi Gablik, Shaffer's "process of creating a shamanic outfit to wear can be likened to creating a cocoon, or alchemical vessel, a contained place within which magical transformations can take place." Art critic Thomas McEvilley related the garments to "an earth mother or fertility-goddess motif," evoking "non-Western or non-Modern identities" in the service of ecological concern. The artists describe the rituals in terms of "energy and thought centered on the equal balance and harmony between Nature, science, and spirit," connecting with the Earth as a living entity whose energy can be reached and unblocked through ritual, prayer and touch, much like acupuncture works on the human body.
Download Notes (PDF)Download Audio
All Ecology & Research presentations proudly sponsored by Forest without frontiers.

Ecology & Research

This session is free to watch
Presented by

Fern Shaffer

Fern Shaffer an American painter, performance artist, lecturer and environmental advocate.