“Make Love With the Earth”

Julianne Skai Arbor

It is my deepest wish that my photographs inspire others to engage in the practices of interspecies communication, interspecies love, and to act always for the healing of, education about and activism for the Earth

We must fall desperately in love with the Earth if we are ever to help heal her. How can we, as the human species, remember our intimate, emotional, sensual, sensory and even sexual, relationship with the natural world? One effective way is to regain our intimate and creative relationship with the Earth through creativity. This just one step in our collective revolution to reclaim the Earth from the destruction caused by Industrial Civilization. I believe that there is nothing any of us should be doing with our lives except stopping those who control the destruction, and help to restore and heal the Earth.

It's All About Love

Instead of making war with her, the Earth is asking that we make love with her. I love to dance with trees; I love to make love with them. This is not some erotic fantasy; this is simply tenderness, reciprocity, energy exchange, active listening and intimacy. It is, at once, a physical, mental, emotional, and psychic relationship. It is an ineffable knowing, a mystery, an action, a reaction, a dialogue, and a bond of commitment, that starts with being present in the moment. Its about being humble with another species, another individual. As a photographer, I am placing myself in the landscape to show that nature (what’s left of her) is where we belong– sometimes naked, sometimes vulnerable, in humility, with our shoes off and the wind blowing against our skin, ears open, listening. We have forgotten this primal relationship. The more people who see this type of artwork will remember their own relationship with the more-than-human world.

Do something!

Like the movie, “Say Anything”, I am challenging you to do something. If you are a gardener who talks to your plants, you are on your way! The most important thing you can do is to open yourself up to listening to all of the natural world. Start in your backyard. Communicate with the trees, the plants, the animals, the insects, the rocks, the microorganisms you encounter everyday. Ask them what they need. Collaborate with them. And, like the Lorax, learn to speak for them. Art is communication. Photograph them. Paint paintings for/with/about them, Dance for/with/about them. Write poems and stories for/with/about them. Write songs for/with/about them and sing to them. Create sculptures for/with/about them. And, yes, plant trees! (and ask where they want to be planted (a-ha, this too is an aspect of permaculture).

For more Arbor liturgy, please see my Frequently Asked Questions /FAQ