Developed in 2019 for my MFA thesis work, the guide "Know this Body, Know this Place" is an attempt at developing a process to decolonize senses and explore ways of representing embodied knowledge. This process invites us to explore, record, reflect, research, and respond. 

 

By exploring we let our bodies interact with our environment; recording allows us to represent this physical experience in image, sound, and writing; reflecting connects the process to our memories and associations that inform our experience; researching deepens our awareness; responding from this place we free our unique creative expression having embodied and internalized these experiences.

 

“Decolonizing our senses” means to develop a deeper awareness of our immediate surroundings and their history through each sense. The goal is not merely to enrich our senses but to understand the world around us through intentional investigation guided by physical experience. This begins to deepen our understanding of the history, politics, and culture of our place and ourselves.

​

The excerpts below share the Introduction, as well as the shared responses of participating artists throughout North America, India, and Pakistan.