Carla Janse van Rensburg

Womb Healing Spell 2018

Womb Healing Spell (2018) is a series of photographs that records the performance of sacred ritual through long exposure photography as taken from a birds eye view. It is through the channel of the womb that we are made manifest in connection to our ancestry. The performance comprises of twelve handmade clay vases that the artist made with their mother. Before paper was an accessible tool, writing on clay tablets was a popular way of making spells; after firing, the tablet would be broken to release the energy. Instead of using literate text, the artist channeled their own emotions and energy into the pots through a reductive carving process. The performance work combines elements of intersectional feminism, queer theory, Alchemy and ritual magic in the practice of self-healing. The artist's use of a birds eye view makes reference to the Emerald Tablet, which states: “That which is Below corresponds with that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds with that which is Below”. This has become one of the most significant laws of occult practice. Once you can understand that the macrocosm can be affected by the microcosm and vice versa, then you can see how you can affect healing to the macrocosm by healing the microcosm (or self). Of course, the healing of the collective will require many more to contribute to that healing. It is up to each one of us to do the self-work.