With Love I Will Grow

For me, the need to immerse myself in nature is strong, but particularly a gruelling journey filled with challenging weather, darkness and danger seems to lift my perspective and connect me with something beyond my physical reality. Endurance exercise does this too, pushing my mind and body towards a void of my conscious thoughts and pushing on towards a connection with nature. This acts as a motivation to keep me moving, bringing me closer to a feeling of unity with the universe.

My practice has developed from my relationship with nature and mental health, discovering an embodied experience and feelings of transcendence. I see the exploration of a landscape as a performative element of my practice and I combine imagery of running, GPS tracking, written word, map drawings, sculpture, and psychology in a multi-discipline approach to my artwork.

My intention is to create immersive video’s that encompasses the sublime aesthetic and feeling to have the effect of changing someone’s perspective. I want to connect people with nature and strengthen their understanding of the importance of the preservation of the natural world.

When I started making video poetry one year ago the videos were basic. Both poetry and video were a new medium for me as I have worked as a jeweller designer for many years. I lacked confidence and was unsure if this new way of making art was suited to my form of expression.

Here is a link to my first video poem 'Yearning for More'

I combined landscape shots with poetry spoken over the top. I loved the process but was unsure if people would find them rudimentary. I posted my video up on Instagram with apprehension to how it would be received. This comment from one of my followers gave me, so much motivation it was a truly beautiful experience. My raw honesty and exploration of my inner world through poetry seemed to connect with people.

I knew the video work I had started to create was not the artwork I had the potential of producing and they lacked a Holly Hewitt intervention. I began experimenting with superimposing my map drawings over videos which shifted it visually to something I felt more aligned to. ‘self-portrait’ a video poem (you can find it at the top of this post) was the first video I felt I had achieved a fusion of my talents. The responses from my followers were touching and reassuring. I found the work hard to share because it was such a deep expression, and I was not able to view the work objectively.

The video features this poem I wrote.

Self – Portrait

There are three currents that flow

Instincts act as guidance

Experience steers my decisions

Connection lights up my path

They all work together to make me…… me

I don’t feel like an individual

I feel like a thread

One strand of a rope

A mass of threads interweaved

Creating strength in unity

I tread over mud, rock and land

Swim in rivers, lakes and oceans

I feel a connection

To a diverse mass, full of life

and all that belongs here

I stare longingly into darkness

Black pierced with light

I feel a connection

To stars beyond my reach

And the space in between

I keep acceptance close to my heart

Embracing the chaos around me

And fluctuating emotions

Facing challenges with connections

Life with hope

I did it again

Betrayed myself

Tiptoed behind my own back

Acted to gain instant gratification

Broke down my boundaries

Broke my own heart

Rejected myself

Destroyed my own sense of worth

Here I am again

Sitting with the pain

A history of trauma and abuse

Stories that repeat over and over

Why do I give in so easily?

Self-sabotaging

My peace

Because I’m just a human being

Forgive myself

Recognise my fallibility’s

A need for material comforts

Connect with a greater sense of being

Free myself from the past

Move towards

Harmony

My friends, family and followers believe in me, listen to my poetry, watch my videos, and buy my artwork because I am a kind-hearted, adventurous, and intelligent creative human. I deserve this I work hard to follow my passions and grow as an individual. I enrich others lives by inspiring and encouraging them to connect with nature and creativity to navigate their own inner journeys and move towards a place of peacefulness.

Recently I did a crowd funding campaign to fund my studies and the creation of my final project for my MA in Art and Science. The response from my followers was truly amazing and I manged to raise the money I needed to successfully complete my MA. This gave me an amazing sense of achievement and made me feel supported by the people around me.

The last year has been difficult for me studying from home, but the consistent love has driven me to continue and thrive gaining a degree, building a network, and creating some wonderful artworks. I am blessed and honoured to have the opportunity to fulfil my dreams and pursue my own endeavours and I honestly can’t wait to showcase my work and celebrate the success everyone has helped me to obtain.

Below is a video of my MA final project a video installation 'Breathscape' The work combines footage of myself running and hiking up mountainous terrain and time lapse footage of the sunrise and sunset. I have overlaid animations of contour lines from a map of Kinderscout where the footage was shot.

The soundscape is made up of sounds from the video’s, wind, water, footsteps, and breathing. I was inspired by bird hides and the qualities of VR. This led me to create an enclosed space that is made from wood. Instead of windows the structure has two screens displaying my videos. I felt this would create an engaging experience offering the viewer a place to sit, take a breath and become a part of my sublime.

To fully enjoy the immersive qualities of this video please wear headphones.

BREATHSCAPE

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. If you would like to support me please like and share this story and you can follow me on Instagram @hollyhewittartist and Subscribe to my You Tube channel.