The work of the conjure artist explores traditional spiritual myths, images and/or practices from a contemporary or experimental art perspective. The manner in which they worship or pray is inextricably linked to the making of their art. For conjure artists, the art practice is the spiritual practice. The following is a work in progress definition of Conjure Art:Ĭonjure Art is music, visual or performance work that utilizes indigenous spiritual rituals to conjure the energies of gods, deities, and/or ancestor spirits with the intention to manifest personal, social, spiritual, and/or environmental justice, alignment and healing. I didn’t know Ana Mendieta personally, knew very little about her work, and her death was sudden and tragic in a very different way. Quite frankly, it scared me.Īnd so, I decided that before I would begin this daunting project, I would find a way to “name” this way that I am working now. I knew him well and I was a part of his community. It was also clear that telling some portion of her story would present even more challenges for me than telling the story of Ed Mock. When I began to research the life and work of Ana Mendieta (1948-1985), a Cuban born visual and performance artist who created work in natural landscapes (i.e., forests, rivers, mountain sides, the ocean, etc.), it was clear from the beginning that I would continue this way of working in order to bring her story forward. Suffice it to say, we summoned the spirit of Ed Mock, and he showed up. I have a difficult time articulating the power of what happened for the artists and for many of the audience who witnessed/participated in this ritual event. During that process, I incorporated spiritual rituals from my religious practice to conjure the spirit of Ed Mock in a way I had not attempted before. Though my spiritual practice as a priest in the Yoruba/Lukumi tradition known as Ifa has always been an underlying source for my creative work, it was through the making of He Moved Swiftly that I brought my spiritual practice to the forefront and engaged my collaborating artists and performers in the ritual process as well. This creative process was reinforcing a way of working which had begun for me two years ago when I made the 5 ½ hour site specific work, He Moved Swiftly But Gently Down The Not Too Crowded Street in honor of my teacher, local dancer/choreographer Ed Mock who died in 1986. During the making of EarthBodyHOME, I decided to play with the problematic idea of labeling my work. Or allowed for the un-namable aspects of my work to remain un-named. Until very recently, I didn’t have a way of describing my work that felt genuine or allowed for the full expression of my It is understandable, and yet for me (and many artists that I know), it continues to be problematic. I have resisted the confines of existing labels though I realize most funders and some audiences unfamiliar with an artist’s work request a descriptive moniker in order to give a context for, or sum up the nature of what you do, your aesthetic, movement genre, etc. It will help you the next time these letters, C O N J U R E come up in a word scramble game.AS A DANCE MAKER over the past ten years, my work has been in an evolutionary state. How is this helpful? Well, it shows you the anagrams of conjure scrambled in different ways and helps you recognize the set of letters more easily. The different ways a word can be scrambled is called "permutations" of the word.Īccording to Google, this is the definition of permutation:Ī way, especially one of several possible variations, in which a set or number of things can be ordered or arranged. According to our other word scramble maker, CONJURE can be scrambled in many ways.
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