Philosophy

In my work, Venus Incarnis, I explore a fundamental conflict at the heart of human experience: the tension between the Apollonian drive for order and the Dionysiac truth of our material, perishable bodies. This work is a spiritual and ecological reconciliation of this duality.

For millennia, the Apollonian drive has led us to create hierarchies and seek permanence. It is the force of the rational mind that recoils from entropy, leading us to build a Labyrinth of Taboos (|〄|) designed to separate us from our own mortality, our bodily functions, and the messy, regenerative cycles of the natural world. This separation has led to Decarnis (Disembodiment) (⧭): a deeply rooted, embodied shame stemming from fear of our transience. The classical "Fall" from Eden, as I see it, was not a moral crime, but a moment of Apollonian terror - a rejection of our Dionysiac reality in favor of an abstract, sterile ideal.

Venus Incarnis challenges this inherited shame by embracing the Dionysiac. The reinterpretation of the Venus of Willendorf is not a transcendent ideal but a humble, earthly being in the posture of a Caganer. Thus it brings to the forefront the most basic functions of the body, often shrouded in taboo. It is a vessel of life and death, and lentil, chickpea, and wildflower seeds sprout from the very soil it creates.

I call this process Syntropic Decomposition - a Dionysiac principle where decomposition is not entropic loss, but a regenerative, sacred process. By tending the growing seeds in the soil mixture provided by the kits, the audience participates in an act of Re-union (⚭) of our connection with the Earth and our bodies. This is a ritual of ecological and spiritual reconciliation - a tangible way to dissolve Apollonian walls and find divinity not only in the heavens, but in the soil beneath our feet.

Ultimately, Venus Incarnis is a call to action. It asks us to abandon the pursuit of sterile perfection and instead find the sacred in the cycles of life, decomposition, and renewal. It is an invitation to restore our fundamental rift with nature and find our place as parts of the whole.