Through my creation of documentary video in the form of my epic adventure saga, I am struggling to prove that I can be at home in classically sublime landscapes.
Immanuel Kant wrote that humans feel at home in beauty as the beautiful was made for our senses and us. The sublime, however, is made for the divine and the Gods, is inhospitable and threatening; therefore, humans cannot feel at home in it. Kant says, “He will see in her he evidences which the ravages of nature give of her dominion, and in the vast scale of her might, compared with which his own is diminished to insignificance, only the misery, peril, and distress that would encompass the peasant who is thrown to its mercy.”
In my previous work, I put myself into classically sublime landscapes to see if I reacted as Kant predicted. I went over a waterfall in a barrel, built a homemade wooden raft and floated down the Mississippi River, climbed the highest active volcano in the world, and more. Along the way, I met societies of indigenous and tribal people who thrive in fantastical sublime landscapes. Because of these experiences, my work aims to move beyond my relationship with the landscape and become more anthropological, focusing on the people, their daily life, traditions and beliefs. I wonder if the sublime was created for the divine, as Kant proposed, then are indigenous cultures and tribal people thriving in sublime landscapes more closely connected to the godly? In the process, my personal redemption from a merely human, mortal life rests on the successful completion of my adventures.
The 5th installment of my epic adventure saga, Living with Barbarians and Cave Dwellers, took place from 2008-2010. I moved to Morocco, integrated into an Amazigh village and learned survival skills necessary to live with cave-dwelling nomads. Once I learned to speak Tashelheit, to cook in the fire, and other activities of daily life, I moved into a cave with a family of nomads. I followed and documented their lives. This was a rare look into a private and fiercely independent nomadic people made possible by the friendships I built with villagers and cave dwelling society.
Future installments of my epic adventure saga include living with an old order Amish family near Shipshewana, Indiana. The Amish, while living amongst blizzards and tornados, spend their energies in preparation for the divine afterlife while renouncing this world and pledging nonconformity. In further exploration of indigenous cultures and their affinity to the sublime, I will also search for the narwhal while living with the Inuit in Northern Canada, explore my own heritage while riding Icelandic ponies across Iceland, traveling with gypsies, and more.
Immanuel Kant wrote that humans feel at home in beauty as the beautiful was made for our senses and us. The sublime, however, is made for the divine and the Gods, is inhospitable and threatening; therefore, humans cannot feel at home in it. Kant says, “He will see in her he evidences which the ravages of nature give of her dominion, and in the vast scale of her might, compared with which his own is diminished to insignificance, only the misery, peril, and distress that would encompass the peasant who is thrown to its mercy.”
In my previous work, I put myself into classically sublime landscapes to see if I reacted as Kant predicted. I went over a waterfall in a barrel, built a homemade wooden raft and floated down the Mississippi River, climbed the highest active volcano in the world, and more. Along the way, I met societies of indigenous and tribal people who thrive in fantastical sublime landscapes. Because of these experiences, my work aims to move beyond my relationship with the landscape and become more anthropological, focusing on the people, their daily life, traditions and beliefs. I wonder if the sublime was created for the divine, as Kant proposed, then are indigenous cultures and tribal people thriving in sublime landscapes more closely connected to the godly? In the process, my personal redemption from a merely human, mortal life rests on the successful completion of my adventures.
The 5th installment of my epic adventure saga, Living with Barbarians and Cave Dwellers, took place from 2008-2010. I moved to Morocco, integrated into an Amazigh village and learned survival skills necessary to live with cave-dwelling nomads. Once I learned to speak Tashelheit, to cook in the fire, and other activities of daily life, I moved into a cave with a family of nomads. I followed and documented their lives. This was a rare look into a private and fiercely independent nomadic people made possible by the friendships I built with villagers and cave dwelling society.
Future installments of my epic adventure saga include living with an old order Amish family near Shipshewana, Indiana. The Amish, while living amongst blizzards and tornados, spend their energies in preparation for the divine afterlife while renouncing this world and pledging nonconformity. In further exploration of indigenous cultures and their affinity to the sublime, I will also search for the narwhal while living with the Inuit in Northern Canada, explore my own heritage while riding Icelandic ponies across Iceland, traveling with gypsies, and more.