(photographic sketches for a kinetic sculpture) 

each leaf has one freefall. they trace the shape of the wind as they fall… a dive.

this project examines my awe of diving.

diving might be the most exquisite sport to watch, yet it has always terrified me. when i imagine entering the water headfirst, my pulse quickens. the gridlines on the bottom of the pool wave and blur.

this heightened physical response is the starting point of my investigation.

while pursuing this project, i re-discovered the poem diving into the wreck by adrienne rich.

i enrolled in diving lessons. 

the emotive power locked within life’s daily micro-moments fuels me: the transition of a wet, freshly fallen leaf as it curls into a hardened shell of itself or the explosive shockwave when rupturing the surface and plummeting first hands - then head - then full body into submersion. 

with each dive, the tissues around my heart contract like the pierce of love. i am training my body to dive. but, first i have to learn to fall again, to release into the water without fear. 

rich's words circulate like the swirl of leaves falling in an endless repetition of spiraling dives:

 

"I came to explore the wreck.

The words are purposes.

The words are maps.

I came to see the damage that was done

and the treasures that prevail."

-From Diving Into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich