Contemplative Land Histories
Publication information:
Abstract
Contemplative Land Histories is a mixed-media collage series, with each image relating to a particular cultural group or physical location carrying significant meaning for Leslie’s understanding and relationship to herself, other people, and the environment. The series explores how entering a space that bears high tension calls one to an obligation of its healing potential. It considers how hopeful new beginnings can sometimes rest on grief-stricken endings. It invites folks to witness how movement and music insist on spirit connection for repair, restoration, and celebration. It also imagines how contemplative silence, met with the echoes of nature, can ground our being to better stand our relationship of belonging in this world.
Presenter Biography
Leslie N. Polk is a scholar and multidisciplinary artist working at the intersection of Black cultural aesthetics and global contemplative movements. Leslie uses ekphrastic collage and poetic storytelling as a pathway for cultural re-memory and possibilities that emerge when past practices are reimagined for personal and communal transformation.