Bronwyn Walls is a New Orleans based artist sharing studio updates throughout October as part of the SHE Digital Artist Residency Program.

︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿

Week 1: October 3

There is a “hand” of bananas growing right outside of my studio window.

I’m painting over old canvas and thinking about self preservation.

These past weeks I’ve been tuned in to young climate activists expressing deep anger about where we are and how we got here. I’m crying with them. Hope feels unjustified sometimes.

As I assess the ways in which I move through and interact with the world, I think first about my creative practice. When challenges feel insurmountable, it can be too easy to disregard non-practical or non-solutions-based ways of living. But how can I ignore the persistent feeling that my practice is one of the most valuable movements to which I dedicate my time?

It’s not that my practice offers hope. What my practice offers is imaginative strength and deep connection to the physical world. How can I live without exercising consistent creative courage? How can I attempt to grow in any way? How can I approach crisis or trauma while being structurally separated from my body and my senses? I wish to rediscover the beauty and resilience of physical existence as often as possible.

Making art is an act of preserving spirit.

Some intentions that I’m setting for myself over the course of my residency:

To approach my materials with the reverence they deserve as finite resources. If I don’t know where a material comes from or how it’s made, learn.
To incorporate more recycled and found materials.
To center wonder and appreciation in process.

What I’m reading: A Door in the Earth (Fiction) by Amy Waldman

What I’m listening to: Water Me Down by Vagabon

︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿︽︿

Walls resurfaces a canvas in her New Orleans studio