Heathen presented to me the recognition of the connections between my life and my work. The statement of ‘previous project reflection’ is somewhat untrue; the project is deeply rooted inside my existence and forms large parts of itself purely from this essence.
Drawing further inspiration from philosophers Soren Kierkegaard and Frederick Nietzsche who once wrote the life fulfilling theories of Existentialism.
This philosophical view encapsulates the individual, providing the basis that all emotions adjoined to the individual contribute largely as to how mentally secure they perceive themselves to be. There are many factors that interact with the individual being, how does one dictate what constitutes a fulfilling life? How does one achieve this quality of life? How does ones environment affect the self internally even considering the possible consequences of Gods existence or non-existence? As the outlook of the Existentialist is highly self orientated I would propose to start from this point. Somehow the comfort and freedom gained from this isolation blankets the internal and external influences, in an ideal world where this philosophy can be applied to each person the possible outcomes would be unfathomable, another reason why I want to persue this project.
The notion of survivalism has always been very close to me, I was taught from a young age how to look after myself if ever I was caught in a situation where I had to stay outdoors for long periods of time. My family have been gamekeepers for generations and so I feel that it is important to understand that if you are willing to eat something you must also be willing to kill it. This re-enforces my belief that we are all the results of evolution and not of a deity. I aim to encompass the two beliefs, my own and that of Kierkegaard, in the eyes of Christianity I am a Heathen. My chosen materials will reflect this, I aim to use animal bones, fur and feathers but only those which I have killed myself. In true survivalist spirit, nothing will be wasted and the flesh will be eaten. The raw aspects of the heathen against those of the smoothed Christian faith will be presented.
Drawing inspiration from Rachel Goodyear’s work, my own will have few ties to our reality and hold their own space in this solitary confinement, ignoring the social norm constraints that we conform to every day, to create a comfortable environment in which what we may call unusual behaviour. Ideas are withdrawn from little notions which we are accustomed to, their roots which are embedded inside us have appeared seemingly from nowhere but they fight for space in-between our day to day thoughts when we carry out even the simplest of tasks. Would you eat an apple seed if you thought it would grow in your gut?
As my work stands, until my ideas are furthered I will test them against the theories of Kierkegaard, when undergoing further research into Existentialism, I found that Christianity caused some controversy as to whether it could appear significant in an individuals life. Fellow German philosopher and psychologist Friedrich Nietzsche shared very similar ideals, although they held very little or no knowledge of eachother they both were considered to be Existentialists and condemned the church for its perversion of the Christian faith.
