Concept of Ecofemography
" In my life, as in my work, I am motivated by a great yearning
for balance and harmony beyond the realm of human experience,
reaching for the essence of oneness with the universe. "
~Ruth Bernhard
Through the process, or ritual of Ecofemography, we move away from civilization for a photography session and reunite with the non-judgmental diverse beauty of the wilderness where a curious phenomenon occurs: we move out of our minds and into our hearts. Our hearts know that all of life is perfect, lovable and beautiful, and the photographs taken as this beauty resonates in our hearts have a healing, grounding effect on our sense of who we are in this world. I envision a world where women are honored, liberated and empowered for their natural ability to find and express beauty through the heart. For it is through the heart, and the inward movement of beauty, that we may discover our true selves and find lasting peace.
My own personal connection with nature is grounded in a lifelong desire to be in constant contact with its smells, sights, and sounds whenever possible. I remember my mother telling me that, as a young child, I was constantly outdoors when the weather permitted and that she would have to go to great extents to find me at the end of the day. As an adult, I have maintained this love of the outdoors with many of my fondest memories coming from hiking in Yosemite, exploring the redwood forests, and witnessing a desert thunderstorm.
Learn to Listen - Honor the Inherent Wisdom of Your Body
The field of Ecopsychology is increasing in importance as our world continues to abuse and disregard its natural resources. According to Linda Buzzell and Craig Chalquist in the book Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind, "Ecopsychology places psyche in the context of the more-than-human world, meaning the complex, interconnected web of humans, animals, plants, microbes, rocks, oceans, and stars." (p.24). As we come to terms with the fact that humans thrive when regularly connected with nature, we must, therefore, address our relationship with it (her) on a physical, mental, and spiritual level. Ecopsycology is a discipline faithfully set out to improve human health by understanding the relationship between psyche and nature.
Whereas Ecopsychology is dedicated to the study of humanity's relationship with nature, Ecotherapy is dedicated to the actual process of healing that occurs through this relationship. The Ecofemography process that I have developed is in many ways a form of ecotherapy that has been merged with the art of therapeutic photography (Femography).
Part of my inspiration for developing the therapeutic photography process of Femography came from my research on women and eating disorders in Western society. One of the most inspiring books I read during this period was Eating in the Light of the Moon, by Anita Johnston (1996). Johnston begins by talking about the intrinsic relationship between the life cycles of women, the moon, and the earth and how being disconnected from this relationship causes women to suffer:
"Imagine if we women understood our bodies to be reflections of the cycles found in nature. We would recognize that the waters in our bodies follow a rhythm as sure as the change in seasons, the ebb and flow of the tides, the waning and waxing of the moon. If we honored the inherent wisdom of our bodies, we would learn to listen, to treat them with respect instead of judgment, and to experience them as sacred messengers that bring us information about our physical needs, our innermost feelings, and our individual internal rhythms." (p. 105)
What is compelling about this book is the spiritual element Johnston introduces into the discussion of Western Civilization’s eating disorder epidemic. I whole-heartedly agree with her theory that this disconnection from both our natural body rhythms and the earth interrupts our inherent ability to hear the internal voice of wisdom. This internal voice of wisdom knows we are pure and good just as we are, just as nature intended. It is from the masculine manifestation of supposedly improving and controlling everything—from how nature gets to live to what our bodies are supposed to look like—that we begin to sequester our embodied intuitive voice and condone only the art of the reasoning mind.
In addition, society's disconnection from the natural life cycles of the earth has been manifested in the devaluation (and subsequent cosmetic correction) of the aging process, which seems part of our attempt to ignore the inevitability of death.
We value the productive years of making money and obtaining material items, while we ignore the importance of being an impressionable young child discovering the world, or the importance of learning from an older person who contemplates the meaning of his or her lived life. If it is true that getting older has limited value in our society, then surely a woman's body, which exhibits wrinkles, stretch marks, and fat in undesirable places, will be rejected and possibly loathed by the woman who inhabits that body. Once again, this socially inspired mindset moves us away from the natural life cycle as represented through our bodies and prevents us from resonating with the natural beauty of our internal spirits. Instead, this mindset causes us to identify with the external world of dictated beauty and materialism. No doubt this misdirected identification is the cause of increased eating disorders among middle aged women.
It feels as though I was put on this earth to walk women through this process and kindly give them hope of feeling good in the bodies they are all so blessed to inhabit.
Photographing Women in Nature and the Inward Movement of Beauty
Experiencing Ecofemography provides an opportunity for a woman to explore her inner voice. The photo shoots in nature serve as a magnificent and intimate time to help a woman let down her guard, share her personal thoughts with me, escape from civilization for a brief time, and let her true self shine through without judgment. If women could have reminders as portraits hanging on their walls of their profound connection to nature and true essence, and become accustomed to seeing themselves and other women in their true forms, they could hopefully begin to reconstruct what our culture considers beautiful. Living with and observing these images with new perspectives could potentially start women on the path toward reconstructing their belief systems about where beauty lives. It is the inward movement of beauty.
The enormous psychological influence that visuals have on women and our culture cannot be overemphasized, and acknowledging the power of this influence is the first step in altering how we see things. If we live with these portraits of ourselves on our walls, we may hold onto that vision—our personal and powerful experience with nature—as a guiding light through our darkest moments, in hopes of shifting our internal reference point from media-created to personally inspired.
If you would like to read more about my research, I recommend reading my thesis: Ecofemography: Photographing Women in Nature and the Inward Movement of Beauty. Please contact me personally. I also invite you to post your own portrait on Women on the Wall, as a contribution to filling our walls with images of all kinds of women!