Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Washing/Tracks/Maintenance: Outside (July 23, 1973), Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art ©Mierle Laderman Ukeles
The Earthkeepers Handbook: recipes and remedies for healing the land and ourselves
Taking cues from the 1976 homestead handbook by Kim Abeles titled Crafts, Cookery and Country Living (background image), this fall 2022 we will assemble an ecoartspace "Members Handbook" for healing the land and ourselves.
Get your favorite recipes ready for making art materials, concoctions, spells, foods, and remedies. You can even submit a manifesto, à la Mierle Ukeles (above), or directions on how to develop special skills. The objective is to share your knowledge and help make the world a better place.
NOTE: Hand drawn images and text are encouraged, à la Abeles, although typed text and photographs are also accepted. If hand drawn, do not add your name/contact info. Book size is 9.5 by 6.75 inches.
The Plan: Our goal with this book is to include as many members as possible, at least 200-300. The nominal fee for submitting recipes/remedies is to cover the cost of designing and editing the book, and reviewers fees.
The reviewers are not looking to eliminate recipes, and will only be making sure that there's not too much repetition. Though they may ask for revisions if needed. They will also be organizing the book layout/design by themes and will write introductory essays.
The book will initially be available online, launching this fall, and a limited edition printed book will be ready at the start of 2023.
We are encouraging an ethos that challenges systemic racism and colonial extraction, which are at the core of ecocide. And, we will place importance on the inclusion of indigenous and LGTBQ voices. This book will represent the mission of ecoartspace which encourages a non-hierachal, open-source dissemination of creative and ecofeminist wisdom; exactly what's lacking today in addressing human actions and interventions in the land that are causing the climate to change so quickly.
Other sources to consider regarding developing replicable social practice projects, see HighWaterLine Guide and SOS Action Guides (Watts, 2013-2014), here: https://issuu.com/ecoartspace
Note: The title Earthkeepers was inspired by the Heresies Magazine issue #13: Earthkeeping / Earthshaking: Feminism & Ecology (Volume 4, Number 1), 1981.
Timeline:
Deadline for submissions is September 15, 2022.
Review submissions September and contact artists if needed for revisions
Book will be designed in October
The online book will launch by November 2022
Our goal is to go to print in December/January 2022
The printed book will launch by February 2023
REVIEWERS
Photo: Ken Marchionno
Kim Abeles explores society, science literacy, feminism, and the environment, creating projects with science and natural history museums, health departments, air pollution control agencies, and National Park Service. NEA-funded projects involved a residency at the Institute of Forest Genetics; and Valises for Camp Ground in collaboration with Camp 13, a group of female prison inmates who fight wildfires. Permanent outdoor works include sculptural Citizen Seeds along the Park to Playa Trail in Los Angeles, and Walk a Mile in My Shoes, based on the shoes of the Civil Rights marchers and local activists. Abeles has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust Fund, and her process documents are archived at the Center for Art + Environment. Her work is in public collections including MOCA, LACMA, CAAM, Berkeley Art Museum, and National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. “Kim Abeles: Smog Collectors, 1987-2020” is a survey exhibition of the environmental series, presented at CSU Fullerton (2022) and CSU Sacramento (2023). Recent publications about her projects include New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and the book, Social Practice: Technologies for Change, Routledge Press (2022). https://kimabeles.com
WhiteFeather Hunter is a multiple award-winning Canadian artist and scholar, holding an MFA in Fibres and Material Practices from Concordia University. She is currently a PhD candidate in Biological Arts at the University of Western Australia, supported by a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, Australian Government International Scholarship and University of Western Australia International Postgraduate Scholarship. Before commencing her PhD, WhiteFeather was founding member and Principal Investigator of the Speculative Life BioLab at the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology at Concordia University (Montreal) from 2016-2019. Her biotechnological art practice intersects technofeminism, witchcraft, micro and cellular biology with performance, new media and craft. Recent presentations include at Ars Electronica, Art Laboratory Berlin, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Royal College of Art London, Innovation Centre Iceland, and numerous North American institutions. WhiteFeather’s recent doctoral research into developing a novel menstrual serum for tissue engineering experiments was spotlighted by Merck/ Sigma-Aldrich for International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2021 as part of their #nextgreatimpossible campaign. www.whitefeatherhunter.ca