Part 4 - NECROSIS
THE MAKING OF NECROSIS
MOOD
The Necrosis chapter was uprooted from the lands of the dead. Holes of brown unearthed patches from an improper harvest. A low laying disease that contrasted the deep green thickets of healthy Finnish forests. Wood stalks lined up in rows, branded with markings of grade and price, as their roots lay in piles of waste beside the road.
It was a feeling of darkness that contrasted the purity of the natural landscape. It was the scares of battle wounds. This is a time of unearthing the hidden ugliness, the demons in the closet, confronting the frustration, anger and sadness and moving on. A journey back to the start of existence, acknowledging the past for its fall from grace, wisdom, and reflection of the truth of suffering, choosing to ground one's forward journey in the deep pool of acceptance. It is also the maturation of the psyche and the acknowledgement that death and destruction has its place when in harmony with the seasons.
MYTHOLOGY
An intrinsic part of our mythological mapping during the Augmented Organism Project incorporated various roots of European faery folklore. For Necrosis, the characters and energies we worked with spoke to the environmental setting of this chapter. We had multiple presences involved in this section, such as the Lady of the Harvest, Oak Men, the Topsie Turvets, Arval Parrot, and Tobaira of the Waters. These energies call on a realization of anger, sadness, connecting with the inner warrior, and letting go— allowing the things that no longer serve us burn in the cleansing fires of change.
Further mythological inspirations that supported the story of Necrosis was the archetype of the Lady of the Harvest—representing a death and a rebirth, and reminding us of the rhythm of natural cycles that shed layers of the past/the unnecessary/the waste/the weight to make room for the new.
World mythology influences of this archetype include:
Mielikki the Finnish goddess of forests and the hunt. She is referred to in various tales as either the wife or the daughter-in-law of Tapio, and the mother of Nyyrikki and Tuulikki. She is said to have played a central role in the creation of the bear.
The transformation from Dark Lady of Kāli, the primordial goddess of the force of time and the changing transitions of nature that bring things to life or death (Kāla masculine form). (Hindu reverence)
Pele, the volcano goddess, known for her creation cycles as a destroyer & shaper of new lands & growth. (Hawaiian reverence)
Ukko, god of the sky, weather patterns, harvest and thunder (Finnish reverence)
Phoenix, a female sacred firebird that, upon the end of its life-cycle, ignites itself on fire in its nest, reducing to ashes that then births a new young Phoenix (Egyptian & global cultural reverence)
In addition to our main research areas, our main elemental focus for Necrosis was earth, fire and wood. These three elements in combination presented not only a cleansing for the character, but a grounding as well.
Location
We were seeing patches of barren lands when we were location scouting down small country roads. It was never a handful of trees, but hundreds at a time. It was a stark difference to the surrounding areas of forests that had trees as far as the eye could see. There was a pain seeing this, knowing that there were even worse clearings of forests (especially ancient forests) happening in the world that were bigger than the impacts we were seeing with our own eyes. We then felt that this land environment was calling us to bring its element of wood and earth into the story.
We did a lot of location scouting for this particular chapter, and made a resting decision on a place that was nearby to the residency site for convenience. We did our location research there, finding our soundscape inspiration and movement energy there. We tried a couple of times to shoot under these three tall trees that were left in the barren field, but the lighting became surprisingly dark and the evening was becoming morning. It wasn't flowing at all which added some frustration, so we headed back home.
When we returned to our rooms for bed, we realized that the fur hood for the character got lost during our attempted shoot. After sleeping in and nourishing ourselves with a good meal, we headed back to the site to try and retrieve the hood and try the shoot again. When we drove back, the lost fur hood was miraculously hanging on a tree right on the side of the road a couple of minutes away from the shooting location. How it got there? We don’t know. When we walked into the forest from that point of entry, we came upon this huge cleared manmade hole in the ground with machinery. That was a "woah" moment!
This was a sign for us to grab the cameras and shoot this scene. It was getting late by the time we finished and packed up, but something told us to keep on following this road. We drove and drove down more country roads, calculating our path in our minds so that we wouldn't end up lost in the middle of nowhere. This journey ended up leading us right to a huge cleared site on the side of the road that became the new location for Necrosis. When we saw the destruction of the land environment, we knew it was the perfect place.
The creative direction of characterization, costume concepts, overall energy and effort of movement for Jazmyne was established from previous workshopping at Arteles Center as well as practice led movement research on location. Final performance takes included highly refined movement relationships between Jazmyne and Cy's camera choreography— both on handheld and in the air with the drone.
Costume
For costume we added elements of the wolf, a hunter— a feminine animal warrior going to battle. We collected and found custom pieces in the local second hand shop, in an urban shop in Helsinki, and from some of Jazmyne's costume collection brought with her.
Movement/CHoreography
The energy of the piece was already determined with this raw, destructive, and uprooting feeling, as well as a movement quality that was heavily focused on deep rooting movements connecting fluidly through the body—inspired by certain aspects of Qi Gong theory and practice. This rooting style progressed into an industrial augmented quality of movement with digital machine-like limb isolations.
Cinematography
The framing and perspective that Cy captured with the choreography of his cameras, a seamless blend of drone and handheld cinematography helped create the expansiveness and scale of the destruction we witnessed on site, and enriched the storytelling of the message that was coming across.
FINNISH BALLAD TRANSLATION
Creating work in Finland in June let on to a really special experience and alignment with the festivities of Juhannes, Midsummer’s night that celebrates the longest day of the year. We got to experience the gatherings of locals and the large building of wood fire pits and the burning of them— a practice coming from the agricultural areas dedicating and recognizing the god Ukko, of Thunder and Weather to appease him and request that the next season of harvest would be a fertile and good one.
From the local gatherings, we met a woman that drove from the city back to her home village during Juhannes. This happened to be right across our residency grounds. She started singing this ballad during the fire burning, and Cy immediately knew that this song would be a part of our research and journey. He kindly asked her if she would contribute to our artistic project and if we could record her. Our cultural ambassador and residency assistant helped translate the text for us, and this message revealed. We knew that this would weave the poetic story of one of our chapters.
FINNISH ENGLISH
Armoa kaikk’ on, armoa vaan, All is grace, grace is all
Jos mitä milloin mä toimehen saan; If I ever accomplish anything at all;
Jos koen voimaa, hehkua, tulta; If I ever feel strength, glow, fire
Kaikki se kaikk’, rakas Herra, on sulta All of it, dear Creator, is due to you
Kaikki se kaikk’, rakas Herra, on sulta. All of it, dear Creator, is due to you
Uskoni kallis sun on se myös My dear faith comes from you
Rakkaus, toivoni sulta on myös Love, and my hope, those come from you too
Oikeaan ohjaa, armo on tieni Guide me to the right path, grace is the way
Suuri on Herra, mä ihminen pieni Great is the Creator, I am so small
Herra on suuri, mä ihminen pieni The Creator is great, I am so small
Jos minut hylkäät, siihen mä jään If you forsake me, there I shall stay
Vaipuen usvana yön hämärään Sinking as haze to the darkness of the night
Työni on turhaa, vaivani suotta, My labor is pointless, my efforts in vain,
vaikka mun aikani ois tuhat vuotta even if I lived for a thousand years
Vaikka mun aikani ois tuhat vuotta Even if I lived for a thousand years
Mutta, sun armoos turvautuen, But, resorting to your grace,
uskossa nauttien hän tietää sen the one who enjoys your faith knows the way
Mullasta nousee painunut pääni, From the ground will my weary head rise,
totta ja voimaa mä saan elämääni truth and strength I shall gain for my life
Herralta voimia saan elämääni The Creator will provide strength for my life
Kiitos ois Herra kun minut loit, Praise to the Creator for creating me,
kun tämän kaiken minulle soit for providing everything to me
Ällös sä pelkää, myötä ja vasta, Don’t be frightened, now and in future,
hoivaa ja hoitele kuin isä lastaan the Creator looks after like a father does his child
Hoivaa ja hoitele kuin isä lastaan Look after and nurtures like a mother does her child
EXCERPT FROM JAZMYNE'S CREATIVE JOURNAL
"Earth, earth being torn up, trees uprooted. It was eerie for me to pass the sections of woodlands being cut and cleared. From the view of the car, it was a quick view to witness the scene, but the feeling resonated with that of a cemetery. The roots were piled up or left deserted in the torn up earth, left with its uselessness. The stack of roots as we drove by, reminded me of elephant trunks, of ivory. Though not priced or at all compared to what the “worth” of ivory is, it had the same concept of killing something to use parts of the “body” and discard the rest. The roots were a big symbol for me, as they represent the deepest connection to the earth mother, the anchors in the depths of darkness. The roots made me think of wisdom, and of traditions, and of growth, and of process for something so small to continue growing up up up to the light, until it grew to be over 10 meters tall. The roots reminded me of our elders, of “old people”, who are generally “discarded” in society, not to be dealt with and to live the rest of their lives enjoying what they have left until they have completely “dried out” and choose to leave this world. They hold so much past and wisdom of experience (the best teacher), but they tend to be left on the side of the road in piles, in senior homes in quantity, left in others hands until their last breath. "