Gaia's Thread
Project Statement
It is not about us trying to be good to save the environment. We are within the living things. In the western culture, we have a word for everything that is not human : nature. In other cultures, there are no such words that separate humans from the other living things and non-living things on the planet. Humans living at a fast pace with their machines does not make them superior in any way. This project is like a declaration of love to our planet earth, Gaïa, the trees and all the living things on Earth.
The project was initiated by Solène Milcent, a visual artist and photographer, from a desire to dream a radically different future where there is no dominant species on earth, nor discrimination of gender, origins, cultures, body appearance, within the human species. A world built on smaller communities learning from each other. The results of this project are photos, poems, and videos. From the idea, to the realization until its final publication, more than a year has passed. Working at a slow path allows ideas and concepts to expand. We live on such a fast path now that we cannot handle it without damage. Our culture of action/reaction has its own limit. It's hard to be slow in our occidental world. But allowing slowness opens new unsuspected doors.
She worked with Mireia Ibañez, a poet, writer and translator based in the Delta del Ebre south of Catalunya. Mireia wrote a tale about Gaïa sewing herself a fabric made of all living things and all the sounds from the planet. From this tale, she later made a poem. The poem is part of a video made by David Montes with his 16mm analog video camera.
Human beings, and a lot of trees, are collaborating in this project. Each human being participated in the project by writing in their own language (Catalan, Spanish, Turkish and English) about their feeling of being part of living things on Earth. The designer “talk under light” (@talkunderlight) designed pieces part of a unisex underwear collection.
Books & Authors that nourished the project : Emanuele Coccia : Métamorphoses, Enlivenment: Toward a poetics for the anthropocene manifesto Andreas Weber and Hildegard Kurt, Francis Hallé : Eloge de la plante, and other thinkers and scientifics like Paul B Preciado, Viviane Despret, Suzanne Simard …
Video available on Kaltblut Mag
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VIDEO CREDITS
Produced and directed by SOLENE MILCENT
Filmed and edited by DAVID MONTES
Assisted by ELIYA AKBAŞ
Sound recorded by SOLENE MILCENT & DAVID MONTES
Styled by TALK UNDER LIGHT
Poem written by MIREIA IBAÑEZ
Narrated by MARTA PLANA JANSANA
Featuring Human beings
ALMA CASTILLA
GABRIEL VORBON
IKRAM MAYMOUNI
JOSSIP TKALCIC
MARIA RIOT
MIREIA IBAÑEZ
and a special thanks to all the other leaving things on this video
Produced and directed by SOLENE MILCENT
Filmed and edited by DAVID MONTES
Assisted by ELIYA AKBAŞ
Sound recorded by SOLENE MILCENT & DAVID MONTES
Styled by TALK UNDER LIGHT
Poem written by MIREIA IBAÑEZ
Narrated by MARTA PLANA JANSANA
Featuring Human beings
ALMA CASTILLA
GABRIEL VORBON
IKRAM MAYMOUNI
JOSSIP TKALCIC
MARIA RIOT
MIREIA IBAÑEZ
and a special thanks to all the other leaving things on this video