Body as a tool.
As a tool, the body is able make, connect and express. It is a way to converse without language, to become something other than just a body. When thinking about the body as a tool, the focus can be shifted to the interior / exterior surroundings. Where is the body located, what is the intention and outcomes, and what is impacted by these?
I also began to watch how my sheet began to catch the wind, almost tracking its movements. How the material became activated by myself, the sand and the wind, transforming into an instrument connecting me to my surroundings.
These movements and shapes that the sheet make are such immediate reactions to the wind, and as quickly as they appear, they disappear.
This investigation began with simply a conversation on camera. However, In watching the video of us speaking I became aware of our hand gestures, how we use our bodies to express ourselves, or express
importance in what we are saying. I slowed down the video and collected film stills. The shapes and movements of our hands became quite beautiful when dialogue was taken away.
The second part of the video is both of us staring into each others eyes in silence. It took us a while to adjust to the intensity, and even then you can see Janelle struggle with the intimacy of the process. Slowing down, and truly paying attention to the other, attracts notions of ‘awkwardness’, ‘self-consciousness’ and an intensity that were not used to receiving.
