trip04: Belonging
Excerpt from a PATREON post from OCTOBER 13, 2022
On my last night in the village where Wilhelmine was born, my host Louise and I stayed-up late, talking over tea and waffles, sharing our stories and work and passions. She shared what it has been like for her to live in this community as a Danish immigrant, and how that label doesn't define her. - Long history of nation-states "owning" or "ruling" the other. Denmark ruled Norway and so some people see her as an oppressor. - We dove into the real dynamics of small communities, the way class and power work the same in rural Norway as it does all over the world.
Our conversation extended into the conceptual side of my artwork, the reconciling and questioning involved with our societal systems. She helped me feel that what I'm trying to address (identity, narratives, historic suppression of both, and how to shift away from that black & white thinking) are relevant beyond my own life. It is easy to romanticize the beauty of this place, which is naturally a first step when traveling. But ... people are people are people and the patterns emerge everywhere. I told her I had seen a Confederate flag along my 2hr drive from Alta. It was shocking and disappointing, but also reiterates the interconnectedness of humanity - in all the ways. It's not possible to run away from scary things, because they emerge elsewhere in other ways.
Louise talked about "Doing, Being, Becoming, and Belonging" as vital to human health - the belonging-part has been added because simply doing, being, and becoming in isolation is not enough. Belonging is key to happiness and wellness. Belonging can be hard for immigrants, for displaced people. I think a lot of Americans perform solidarity because they are so desperate to belong, after their ancestors left the places they actually belonged to. I've never witnessed Belonging more than when we were in Laos. I could see and feel that Souliyahn belongs in/to that place and those people in ways that are impossible in Minnesota. Our bodies belong to place and climate, too. My skin technology is thick, made for cold as it holds in heat to keep me feeling warm. Souliyahn's skin is thin and fully breathable, in order to cool his body in the intense humid heat.
I might have used 'belong' in previous posts when talking about this place. I don't know if I really belong in Northern Norway but I do feel a sense of belonging to this harsh and gorgeous land north of the Arctic Circle. The mountains and coast and water are spectacular. My body feels alive here, but, I also feel alive on the sparse tundra further inland from the coast. The dense forest floor, squishy like carpet, with twisty birch trees that don't grow tall, the rocky terrain and mountain rivers all speak to me, comfort me. More than belonging to a nation, or even to a people, perhaps I belong to this arctic land that flows across borders?
