Self Ecologies
ITINERANT COLLECTIVE LEARNING SPACE
BASED ON "THREE ECOLOGIES" BY FÉLIX GUATTARI
SELF ECOLOGIES, 2017 - 2019
Itinerant collective learning space
Cotton fabric, charcoal, white clay
Created in collaboration with
the psychologist Lucas Szemere.
ABOUT
The word Ecology derives from the Greek term Oikos, that means House, and from Logos, that means Study. In Western perspectives, this "house study", i.e., the scientific study of the ecosystems we inhabit, was mainly supported by scientists, environmentalists, and biologists.
These professionals were engaged in understanding and solving problems of the maintenance and preservation of the environment and "external nature". However, in the last decades, this Ecological perception has been extended to several fields of knowledge, such as Psychologies, Philosophies, Arts, and Pedagogies.
In it's studies and practices, these "new Ecologies" addresses the care and conservation of the "internal nature" of human beings themselves, i.e., their physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual health, in communion and interdependence with environmental and social health.
As much as these ecological dimensions promote an integral perception, of mutual care, between human animals, non human existences and diverse socio-cultural contexts, we can say that we share organizational systems that go in the opposite direction: environmental, political, economic and existencial global challenges are some of the aspects that indicate this.
Still, we can say these challenges begin to be perceived, questioned and reevaluated by new generations, who seek to share a common life that promotes inclusion, belonging, equity and freedom, understanding human beings as part of the living organism of the Earth. And, not only that, but honouring non western perspectives, as the complex and diverse Indigenous cultures, that have been silenced by these oppressive structures, but already practiced and perceived life from this entangled perspective.
In this way, a broader Ecological awareness can support us by unveiling perceptions of health and well being, in constant integration with the self, others and the environment.
Based on this, we created Self Ecologies, an itinerant educational space, dedicated to the experimentation and learning of multiple Ecological dimensions. Our purpose is to cultivate a culture of integration in communion with the diversities, adversities, and singularities of each living being, as Planet Earth, our Ecological home.
