Newsletter #169 - A Winter Impression
It's only temporary.
The other day I was flipping through Andy Goldworthy’s book “Ephemeral Works.”
Andy is one of my favorite artists and I find his nature installations and photographs endlessly inspiring. He is primarily known for his large-scale permanent installations, like “Woodline” in San Francisco, which I visited in 2015.
However, it’s his ephemeral works that resonate with me the most. I find his Rain Shadow work particularly powerful.
There's something uniquely compelling about artwork that exists only briefly before disappearing forever. These temporary pieces force us to be present - to really see and experience them in the moment - because they'll soon exist only in memory and documentation.
Unlike permanent installations, ephemeral works mirror life itself: Fleeting. Unrepeatable. Precious because of their impermanence, rather than in spite of it.
Each piece becomes a meditation on time and presence, asking us to consider what it means to leave a mark that's destined to vanish.
Inspired by this work, and with snow forecast, I decided I wanted to try and make one myself.
My Snow Shadow would extend Andy’s meditation on impermanence into a new climate - both meteorological and metaphorical.
I got down on the ground as the first flurries fell and laid still for 15 minutes as snow accumulated around my body.
It was the longest 15 minutes of my life.
The resulting silhouette appeared as a figure reaching upward through the gathering white, which I think speaks to the current moment of uncertainty. As we witness rapid environmental and political shifts, this temporary impression in the snow asks: What marks do we leave behind, and how quickly are they erased?
When I got up I looked back and realized one of my footsteps completely messed up the shadow.
I guess the marks we leave aren’t always perfect.
Luckily it’s not permanent.
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Kristen Neufeld’s best work is invisible.
Zach Vitale isn’t a snow angel, he’s an earth angel.
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Always inspiring, your often sardonic humour is great, I love that you put your foot in it today :-)
did the footstep mess it up, or did it actually enhance it? sorry, I’ll leave. great newsletter as always.