CACTUS CARE
by gwen charles
Caretaking. Caregiving. Self-care. Earth care.
Recently I have been reflecting on illness, caretaking, aging, loss and grief as I have unexpectedly been caring for a sick child as well as aging parents. These circumstances affect me deeply and so I turn to nature. By replicating and embodying the motions of caretaking and caregiving in the natural environment where plants are being taken care of, I create stand-ins and metaphors for the patient and caregiver relationship. Caring for the plants as I care for my family, I reveal innate connections to both my family and the earth.
This series of photography and video work where I care for cactus, reflects the prickly experience of caregiving for a difficult patient.
In two rooms of an abandoned glass greenhouse built over a century ago, mature succulents and cactus were left deserted. Two women try to comfort the plants by caressing them, one woman more playfully caressing the spines of a nearly half-century old barrel cactus, the other stroking the petals of a flower-shaped evergreen succulent.
While caressing the hanging succulent, the dancer Erin notes, “While trying to nurture the plant, the petals would continually fall off at my touch. The more this repeated, the more I began to wonder if my touch or care meant anything or helped in any way. I began to feel sad during this nurturing action, feeling the connection to my life and time passing - when something or someone dies, who will remember, and what will have mattered? My natural response to the petals falling was a full-body physical reply, to replicate the petals falling from stem to table. Still sensing the petal's texture on my fingertips, I moved slowly from high to low, arching, twisting, and rounding, embodying for a few moments the deep feeling of loss.”
Petting a spiny cactus feels very close to my caregiving experience lately.
A prickly patient who wants to be cared for but bristles at the slightest offense.
Still, I care for the prickly patient, try to soothe her, but I have to be careful and gentle.
I consider the metaphor of being like a cactus: its protective exterior protects its soft inside, it has great endurance and strength to survive in new environments and situations and is adaptable and strong. A reminder that we will endure and survive through the difficult seasons of our life.
WHO DO YOU CARE FOR—AND WHO CARES FOR YOU?
Caring for ourselves and caring for one another supports our community and supports our land. Caretaking becomes community care and self-care, earth care.
Register for a one-on-one, in-person, greenhouse cactus ecotherapy session to assist you in finding your inner resilience and calm. Spaces are limited. Located in Montclair NJ.
Select a time and date. Session will be recorded.
Virtual Cactus Therapy
Select a cactus to meditate on.
barrel cactus
evergreen succulent
blue candle cactus
prickly pear cactus
gwen charles (she/her) New York based multi-disciplinary artist gwen charles (b. 1975) interjects the performing body, often her own, as an exploration of the female experience in live performances and videos interweaving sculpture, video and movement. Performances, often in alternative spaces, take inspiration from everyday objects, dreams and historical references, merging elements of reality and magical realism. Her installations include handcrafted wearable objects and textiles, capture the moving body through space in digital video and photographs. Collaboration with dancers, performers, and artists is an integral part of the studio practice, at home and while traveling.
Instagram: @gwencharles.studio
Facebook: gwencharlesArtist
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