keep the channel open.

“there is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. the world will not have it.

it is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. it is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. you do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. you have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. keep the channel open."

- martha graham
(via the ever-inspiring: lasara jarvis)

BRIDGING WOUNDS: transforming. PUBLICLY.

a new series of body-based performative installations by sound/physical artist, paris hurley, exploring an excavation of personal wounds and the deep dichotomy of wanting to hide yet needing to be seen.

(i think.)

the deep dichotomy of wanting to hide, yet needing to be seen...

it hasn't ever been that i don't have ideas...

it's a matter of not knowing how to channel them.

these things started long ago

oh. right. why exactly am i only recently realizing i have ideas and a voice...?

---
photo by day chan
flier by beth fleenor / the frank agency
spring, 2006

WHAT AM I DOING?!??

i am developing a series of body-based performative installations centered around an excavation of personal wounds.

(i'll show you mine, so maybe you'll show you yours...)

---
what am i doing? installed january 11, 2011
an answer to that question found in a workbook entry from september 20, 2011
the process...ever elusive and requiring of more patience then you thought possible...

experiments. evolutions on a theme.

nothing is singular.
find beauty and companionship in the symbiosis - be grateful for it.
it is the greatest truth.

IDENTITY / PERSONA: symbols of the self (?)

so much of my (perceived) identity feels wrapped up in external symbols - the hair cut/color i spent years developing, the cowboy boots that rarely left my feet, my violin (that violin), being a violinist...

what happens when you let go? what's left? who's left?

currently, i sit in a body-based studio space whose mission is to foster inquiry, experimentation, and process. no violin. different shoes. new hair.

it feels monumental.

how can these symbols hold so much and yet mean nothing at all?
the tricks of the mind...
the tricks of the ego...

it feels very fragile - like a fawn taking its first awkward steps - and like it is so obviously exuding from every pore, i might as well be wearing a huge neon sign and yelling through a megaphone. transforming. publicly. elements of this are very uncomfortable and unsettling. yet, it somehow feels like a symbol of strength - a new level of willingness to be vulnerable born out of a new sense of self. true self.

...lesson after lesson in what great strength comes through vulnerability...

october 16

now i don't know how to interface.
i'm finally present -
transformed -
indescribably grateful...
how do i interface with my life in seattle after such magic?
a life i've spent the last 2 tours lusting after...
it's all me.
it's all my life.
there is no separation unless i make one.
he is changed too.
now that i don't 'need' to be home, i'm going home.
funny, and yet perfect.

in it

photobooth with self
berlin - 10/09/11

a message to the self (a message to others)

the practice of being an open channel is just that - a practice.

honor that practice.
it takes great discipline, focus, presence, strength, and the willingness to be ever vulnerable.