Jemila MacEwan

Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, USA

Artist statement

In the face of environmental crises, I find myself asking questions like ‘How would a glacier tell this story?’ and ‘What does a meteorite feel as it impacts the earth?’ These perspectives help me understand what it means to be human within the present epoch of the Holocene Extinction. My work lives in the emotional complexity of humanity’s destructive impact, to the planet and to itself. I create mythological narratives around meteorites, volcanoes, long-extinct life-forms and melting glaciers, where conversations with landscapes mirror specific emotional states brought on by a world in change. Understanding these natural phenomena is only possible through vast time-scales and the elemental and material forces capable of dramatically reshaping the environment. In my work, these forces act as a counterpoint to the unconscious and intentional impacts that humans have on the planet. Shedding the layers of denial that separate humans from the natural environment reveals nature as a diverse network of powerful and animated forces that deserves our attention, trust and respect. Upholding the importance of cosmologies, origin stories and mythologies is crucial to our sense of connection between cultural histories and the natural history of the universe. One characteristic of mythology is animistic thinking which opens the landscape to supernatural experiences. The imaginative realm of animism and the supernatural is a gateway to a more spacious spiritual relationship to the...

Artwork