Still / Seen
Still / Seen is a therapeutic ritual that both relieves and encloses tension while making visible the unseen: particles of pollution and domestic labor.
Even as discussing mental health becomes normalized, anxieties surround us: climate anxiety, COVID anxiety, maternal anxiety, social anxiety. These collide to create a tense reality. “Focus on the now.” Yet, how do we envision change while focusing on the now? How do we acknowledge hidden macro and micro forces shifting our world while focusing on things we can see? Can we simultaneously create calm through the tangible AND manifest a better future?
This project draws connections between intersectional feminism, the climate catastrophe, and our current interconnected yet disconnected existence. It celebrates the joy of childhood through touch, honors the labor of our mothers through repetition, and collects air pollution.
Still / Seen is a performance with instructions and documentation to create a collective ritual. We return to the origins of Play-doh, which evolved from domestic tool to child’s plaything. Play-doh began as a wallpaper cleaner. By harnessing this use alongside its soothing tactility, Still / Seen turns labor into ritual, cleaning into play. The embedded meanings and history of this material reinforce the connections between childhood, motherhood, and environment. Rather than cleaning interior walls, we focus on cleaning our exterior doors to collect residue of air pollution while purifying the entryway and performing domestic labor outside in the public sphere. Formerly unnoticed particles accumulate in the playdough, visibly transforming its color, making the unseen seen.
Still / Seen provides a release of tensions and encapsulation of pollution for each participant. Participants repeat a phrase while cleaning, based on 5-4-3-2-1 grounding exercises. When finished, they view the playdough, consider what it holds, and photograph it if desired. The ritual is completed by folding the playdough around the pollution. It dries as a sculptural document, a reminder to focus on the senses, consider the unseen, and honor your labor. On a broader scale, this project shines light on the value of often unseen, unpaid domestic labor as well as the unseen particles of pollution we breathe, drink, and eat.
The process is the work. The experience of performing this ritual and the resulting feelings are the primary outcomes. Participants are encouraged to repeat guiding words while cleaning. These words focus on the senses, based on the 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique, with adjustments to connect the tangible in the present with manifesting for the future.
Guiding Words for Calming / Cleaning:
I see the now-visible pollution.
I touch the squishy clay and the pollution that is now enclosed in it.
I hear the movement of my body, the power of my voice, and the space I’m in.
I smell the air I breathe and the playdough of childhood.
I taste change.
With each breath, I honor my labor and that of my mother and her mother before her.
With each circle, I cleanse my entry.
With each breath, I honor the web of connections between my body and that of my child and that of the earth.
With each circle, I see things come full-circle.
Instructions:
1. Get playdough. You will need a handful, ideally pale in color.
2. Select an entry point to your home where you would like to perform the ritual.
3. Prepare any device or helper for documentation if desired.
4. Print or memorize the guiding words.
5. Hold your playdough. Beginning at the top left corner, press it on the exterior of your door. Moving in a circular motion, across and down, rub the playdough on the door, picking up dirt and pollution.
6. As you move your hands, notice your breathing. Breathe in. Complete a circle. Breathe out. Complete a circle.
7. Repeat the guiding words.
8. Stop when you have cleaned the entire door. Look at the playdough. Consider what it holds. Photograph it if desired.
9. Fold the playdough around the pollution, enclosing it.
10. Let the playdough dry as a sculptural document of this process. May it become a token to remind you to focus on the senses and honor your labor.