- Leonora Oppenheim

“I am so happy in the silky damp dark of the lab

“I am so happy in the silky damp dark of the labyrinth and there is no thread.” Hélène Cixous

I’m about to go down the rabbit hole and live with the mycelium for a while. Very proud to share that I’ve received @aceagrams funding in Round 14 of Develop Your Creative Practice.

This means the Arts Council are supporting me to develop a project called ‘Nature Reclaiming Its Own Image’ where I’ll be upskilling in large format photography, learning to grow living matter through my photographs, and developing a new performance piece in the Somerset landscape.

It’s an exciting new season in my practice and I’m so deeply grateful for the support of such an esteemed institution. Thx also to @42acresretreat for sharing their incredible fungi cultivation knowledge with me and to @merlin.sheldrake for this wonderful Cixous quote which accompanies me as I go underground.

#dycp14
#aprocessofbecoming
#embodiedpractice
#myceliumrunning

Trying to get close to you, September 2021. My se

Trying to get close to you, September 2021.

My search for intimacy in nature embodies the desire for connection and the frustration of separation.

I ask the land what it can teach me about how to meet the world in a female body.

#embodiedpractice
#aprocessofbecoming
#supportsystem
#somerset

Before They Awake IV, August 2020 Reflecting on a

Before They Awake IV, August 2020

Reflecting on a pivotal moment I had two weeks ago when I delivered a Pecha Kucha presentation @shatwellfarm here in Somerset.

I invited the audience to feel their emotional and physical response to this photograph, rather than visually analyse the meaning it has for me as the maker. I included a short taster of Feldenkrais movement to help people become aware of their senses and feel more at ease in their bodies.

It was such a fascinating experience connecting my artwork to my Feldenkrais practice and getting to hear first hand how it resonated. People told me about pathways to the future, about painful wrists, about freshly accessed anger, about tension, about hope.

Looking forward to doing a lot more embodied perception workshops, not just with my photographs, but with all kinds of artwork in gallery spaces and museums.

Having originally trained in art history I’m very accomplished in visual analysis, but with my recent somatic training I’m even more excited about offering an alternative that centres the viewer’s experience.

How do you feel when you look at this photograph?

#embodiedpractice
#aprocessofbecoming
#Feldenkrais
#awarenessthroughmovement

Land grab. July 18th 2022. Thinking about the dua

Land grab. July 18th 2022.

Thinking about the duality of worshipping the land and extracting every possible thing from it. We humans are insatiable animals.

Got these Hamilton lyrics going round my brain…

“Life doesn't discriminate
Between the sinners and the saints
It takes and it takes and it takes
(And we keep living anyway)”

#embodiedpractice #aprocessofbecoming #extractive #grasp #regenerative #caress

Dissolving at dawn. July 18th 2022. On the hotte

Dissolving at dawn. July 18th 2022.

On the hottest day of the year, I’m experiencing the human urge to worship the sun, while simultaneously shying away from its frightful heat.

Feeling terrified for what’s to come, it’s difficult to find the words to describe the anger and fear that results from watching world leaders procrastinate in the face of disaster.

#embodiedpractice
#aprocessofbecoming
#climateemergency