Jemila MacEwan is an environmental artist known for their earthworks, installations, performances and expanded cinema projects. Their work takes an expansive view of time and geography, often created through slow acts of physical endurance. MacEwan invites audiences to take an interspecies perspective for working through the overwhelming emotional toll of reckoning with anthropogenic climate change and mass extinction. MacEwan has performed and exhibited extensively internationally including at; ARoS Museum (Denmark), The Australian Consulate-General, Pioneer Works (NYC), The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (NYC), NYCXDESIGN (USA), and Skaftfell Center for Visual Art (Iceland). In 2022 MacEwan was awarded the NYSCA/NYFA Fellowship in Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design, The Philip Hunter Fellowship, The BigCi Environmental Art Award and was invited by TEDxBoston to present as a Planetary Fellow. They have been invited to attend notable residencies including; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (USA), BANFF Center (Canada), NARS Foundation (NYC), and Ox-Bow School of Painting (MI). Their work has been published in Art in America, Boston Globe, SFMoMA Open Space, and Artist Profile Magazine. MacEwan has been generously supported by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Australia Council for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, the Ian Potter Cultural Council and is a recipient of The Marten Bequest Traveling Scholarship.
Published on March 3rd, 2024. Artist responses collected in months previous.
What are you working on these days?
I am always working on multiple projects, bu the most ambitious project I am currently working on is ‘12 Mountains’ for which I received the Philip Hunter Fellowhship. '12 Mountains' is a long-term mahi (quest, assignment, project) which will bring together messages from twelve Mountains around our planet to the world. Each Mountain is chosen because of the kinship recognized and honored by the human communities who live with them. Each Mountain is invited to speak from their perspective with a message for our planet. The messages from all twelve Mountains will be brought together into council. I am filming each Mountain in timelapse for twelve months. The footage will be condensed to one hour, as though one year for humans is the equivalent of one hour for Mountains. The Mountain’s message will be interpreted and spoken by a member of the Mountain’s human kin. Taranaki Maunga in Aotearoa (New Zealand) is the first of the Mountains to be included and as the first Mountain to be granted legal personhood it served as the inspiration for the whole project.
What has been going well for you in your art career and life recently?
I am balancing my work as a solo artist with my collaborative endeavors. There are aspects of these dual modes that complement each other, enabling me to embody the full spectrum of my creative self. This year, I've encountered more rejections than in previous years, making collaboration instrumental in keeping me motivated and creatively fulfilled. It has granted me permission to revisit some of my past creative roles, such as costume and stage design, while also venturing into new territory as a dancer. I collaborated extensively with movement coach Amelia Heintzlemann, who significantly contributed to building my skills and confidence in dancing and stage movement.
What is something new that you have discovered this past year that is meaningful or helpful for you?
While in Aotearoa, I immersed myself in learning about Maōri culture. The language, customs, and plant knowledge revealed to me that there are people who live and breathe the ideas and notions about relationality and animacy on the planet, ideas I often struggle to verbalize. The more I learned, the more I felt I could relax and expand into this worldview. Te Reo Maōri introduces words and language structures that I long to have in English; for example, the word for ‘land’ is also the word for ‘placenta.’ This means that even when the context informs you which word is being used, these dual meanings are always invoked. On a more personal note, I cut out sugar, alcohol, refined and glutenous grains, and lactose, and it has helped my mental health immensely. For a long time, I have struggled with mood regulation, depression, and exhaustion. I have always chosen to deal with these challenges without medication, opting instead for meditation, exercise, therapies, and other forms of inner work. I’m stunned at how much a change in diet has impacted these things.
Briefly walk us through your process of making art or thinking through a new project, focusing on what's most important to you as you create.
My work is conceptual so there are some principles that I generally follow: I start with curiosity - I just learn about things that interest me - how did life on earth evolve? What lives among the ocean plastic? How is tree evolution changing? How does fungi reproduce? What cultures honor Mountains as sentient beings? How does a bug feel in the city? How did particular languages evolve? As I am learning about these things I am flooded with ideas. Many of my ideas come while I am meditating. The spaciousness and focus of meditation allow all of the information in my head to integrate into my whole body. These ideas are often very clear and come fully formed. When I have a new idea I invite my critical ego to give gentle feedback. I am looking for how the idea addresses a lack in the world - of feeling, or understanding, or care etc. The second thing I am looking for is what will the idea teach me? If there is no room in the idea for my own personal growth or discovery through surrender to the unknown, then there is no motivation to make it.
What are you working on these days?
I am always working on multiple projects, bu the most ambitious project I am currently working on is ‘12 Mountains’ for which I received the Philip Hunter Fellowhship. '12 Mountains' is a long-term mahi (quest, assignment, project) which will bring together messages from twelve Mountains around our planet to the world. Each Mountain is chosen because of the kinship recognized and honored by the human communities who live with them. Each Mountain is invited to speak from their perspective with a message for our planet. The messages from all twelve Mountains will be brought together into council. I am filming each Mountain in timelapse for twelve months. The footage will be condensed to one hour, as though one year for humans is the equivalent of one hour for Mountains. The Mountain’s message will be interpreted and spoken by a member of the Mountain’s human kin. Taranaki Maunga in Aotearoa (New Zealand) is the first of the Mountains to be included and as the first Mountain to be granted legal personhood it served as the inspiration for the whole project.
What has been going well for you in your art career and life recently?
I am balancing my work as a solo artist with my collaborative endeavors. There are aspects of these dual modes that complement each other, enabling me to embody the full spectrum of my creative self. This year, I've encountered more rejections than in previous years, making collaboration instrumental in keeping me motivated and creatively fulfilled. It has granted me permission to revisit some of my past creative roles, such as costume and stage design, while also venturing into new territory as a dancer. I collaborated extensively with movement coach Amelia Heintzlemann, who significantly contributed to building my skills and confidence in dancing and stage movement.
What is something new that you have discovered this past year that is meaningful or helpful for you?
While in Aotearoa, I immersed myself in learning about Maōri culture. The language, customs, and plant knowledge revealed to me that there are people who live and breathe the ideas and notions about relationality and animacy on the planet, ideas I often struggle to verbalize. The more I learned, the more I felt I could relax and expand into this worldview. Te Reo Maōri introduces words and language structures that I long to have in English; for example, the word for ‘land’ is also the word for ‘placenta.’ This means that even when the context informs you which word is being used, these dual meanings are always invoked. On a more personal note, I cut out sugar, alcohol, refined and glutenous grains, and lactose, and it has helped my mental health immensely. For a long time, I have struggled with mood regulation, depression, and exhaustion. I have always chosen to deal with these challenges without medication, opting instead for meditation, exercise, therapies, and other forms of inner work. I’m stunned at how much a change in diet has impacted these things.
Briefly walk us through your process of making art or thinking through a new project, focusing on what's most important to you as you create.
My work is conceptual so there are some principles that I generally follow: I start with curiosity - I just learn about things that interest me - how did life on earth evolve? What lives among the ocean plastic? How is tree evolution changing? How does fungi reproduce? What cultures honor Mountains as sentient beings? How does a bug feel in the city? How did particular languages evolve? As I am learning about these things I am flooded with ideas. Many of my ideas come while I am meditating. The spaciousness and focus of meditation allow all of the information in my head to integrate into my whole body. These ideas are often very clear and come fully formed. When I have a new idea I invite my critical ego to give gentle feedback. I am looking for how the idea addresses a lack in the world - of feeling, or understanding, or care etc. The second thing I am looking for is what will the idea teach me? If there is no room in the idea for my own personal growth or discovery through surrender to the unknown, then there is no motivation to make it.
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