Flowerlands: The written word as world maker

Abstract

Place is alive. Exploring my relationship with the land I live on pushes me to articulate a vision for place beyond the Cartesian perspective of object/subject. Instead of asking, what is this place I am in relationship with, I ask, who is this place I am in relationship with? I shift the western cultural narrative through recognising agency to the assemblage of non-humans that entangle to create life. I bring myself into a relationship with an entity rather than in space. Written expression shapes onto-epistemologies, which then shape how we interact, make laws, and care for the world. Our western institutional approach to structure and grammar are complicit in the written word being a world maker. This, coupled with an imperialism of the English language, makes for a powerful combination in shaping cultural narratives. Once the written word becomes embedded within concepts, both the conventional placement and the very definition of what is noun or verb, we begin to make meaning based on these placements and rhythms of ideas. All too often, the placement of object/subject within the sentence shapes our relationships with/to, and so often reiterates the hierarchical thinking embedded within Cartesian dualism. The process of exploring the written world as world maker encourages me to question decisions based on categorisation and orders of concepts when establishing a narrative for my work. The value of writing as part of my practice asks me to use a vigilant and ongoing re-framing of conventional language towards alternate perspectives of ecological thought. Image © Aviva Reed, 2021