Mirroring Project
Mirroring Project
It’s a different kind of conversation.
Movement is our first language, our first form of communication.
This project explores how collaborative art making experiences encourage connection, deep listening and understanding of another person’s energy state through mirroring bilateral mark making and movements. Bilateral drawing stimulates both sides of the brain and can assist in nervous system regulation. Mirroring body movement can be used as a form of non-verbal empathy.
Over a two week period I conducted 30 sessions of 30 minutes Bilateral Drawing Mirroring sessions via zoom with people from across the globe. I invited each participant to engage in continuous bilateral drawing for 20 minutes, I would mirroring their movements and mark making in response, trying to catch their flow. At the end of the session I asked a series of questions about their felt experience.
The premise of the project was to exploring the felt experience of having another person mirror movements and also noticing how emotions and energy shifts by engaging with bilateral drawing.
The videos, words and images in this body of work have been taken from these sessions as way of consolidating the findings of exploration as they were made during this time in October 2021. After this project I went on to explore group Bilateral Drawing Mirroring sessions to explore how dynamics change when we attempt share space, take on each other ideas and energy together.
The Process
I invited people from all over the world to participate in bilateral drawing sessions where I would mirror their movements and mark making. There was no music or talking during this time, only the sounds of the pastels making marks on the page. After the session we chatted about the felt experience of the engagement. Some participants engaged in more than one session, some only one.
After the sessions the participant would send a photo of their drawing to me and I would marrying the two images together and share them on social media.
I liked playing with the idea of their energy travelling through zoom onto my page, as if my body was a vessel for transmutation of energy. Each participant was different in their approach, some had never tried bilateral drawing before. It is a curious thing to invite someone to drawing nothing; instead to make marks in response to their current energy state.
I also loved the idea of creating a body of work that is inspired by someone elses ideas. I create the situation but someone else leads the exploration.
It’s a conversation happening on a molecular level.
The Humanness
When I look at these artworks I see humanness. I see what lies under the surface of everyday conversations, the raw stuff. The images are full of raw and unedited human energy. The inspiration came from the inner world into the outerworld; translated and transmuted into colour, line and shape.
Why? In a time where we are increasingly more isolated I felt it was important to focus on how art can help us connect and express. I wanted to bring others into the art making experience and find a way to make collaborative and meaningful art even while separated. We were never physically present in the same room, yet we were able to connect in a felt sense.
The Explorations
Reverberations
noun
plural noun: reverberations
prolongation of a sound; resonance.
a continuing effect; a repercussion.
Reflection
noun
the throwing back by a body or surface of light, heat, or sound without absorbing it.
Energy
noun
the strength and vitality required for sustained physical or mental activity.
Companionship
noun
a feeling of fellowship or friendship.
Poems
“Oh am I going too fast?
Should I slow down?”
“How quiet your mind must be. Unfamiliar, but also natural.”
“Simultaneously more grounded and more dreamy.
My two hands became one sometimes.”
“Just knowing. No talking. No words.
Sometimes the silence is the filling up part.”
“I felt very seen in my feelings.”
The following image and words are from participants reflections post drawing session, I’ve left these without authorship as if to welcome the idea of energy speaking, rather than a person.
“Something needed to shift and move.”
“That energy needs to come out.
Nurturing me.”
“Precious and special.
A place to honour,
Two vessels.”
“Something quite intimate
Each movement
Very connected”
“I’m in a number of spaces.”
“The whole thing is joyful!
Your hearts wants to give.”
“It feels complete.
I feel complete.
It’s reemerging,
Like a butterfly.”
Thank you to the people behind the hands, words and hearts:
Sophie, Kim, Kirily, Rita, Kate, Jacqui, Maddy, Magdalena, Kathy, Sarah, Nicole, Emma Kate, Georgina, Tess, Sara, Debby, Johanna, Heather, Kelly, Abigail, Trish.