Mind Walk 4 was created in collaboration with students from Bomaderry and Ulladulla High Schools. The students were briefed to design and conduct their own Mind Walk performances working in groups at their respective schools. The photographs, audio and video captured during these performances were then used as inspiration and source material for the installation presented in the gallery. Thematically this installation explores the idea of a corridor, depicting distorted architectural forms and investigating the concept of a corridor in an abstract way, as a psychological space. This project encourages collaborative working including trust and empathy building exercises.

Mind Walks are sensory performances consisting of guided walking tours, visualisations and workshops with participants to facilitate intuitive interactions between the subject, others, architectural locations, psychological states and artistic material prompts. Through sight deprivation subjects have an opportunity to experience their other senses in a heightened state (i.e. sound, touch, smell), explore their environment from an altered perspective and access their imagination. The purpose of this project was to explore familiar places from an altered perspective and bring tangible form to intangible states of mind, aimed to empower the participant.

The process of creating Mind Walk 4 consisted of creating a series of small corridor models based off the visuals the students presented; scrolls of paper were cut according to a design and were suspended; the drawings were created by direct light being shone through the corridor models using ink to record where the shadows fell during this process. The drawings were further developed with the idea to capture the feeling of those spaces and experiences of the participants, focusing on the transitory nature of a shadow and treating each line as an echo of an experience. The audio-visual component of the installation was created in collaboration Nigel Christensen. A model replicating the visual form of the final installation was created and filmed in, capturing an endless transition through the corridor and featuring textural drawing details. The audio incorporates vocals from the student participants, focusing on their perception of the spaces explored and their experience of giving over control. Sound being an apt medium to convey their experiences.

Mind Walk 4 Installation Audio

Layer Layered Layering is a poem turned audio track that features the questioning process of exploring an architectural space.

Layer Layered Layering

‘Canopy of Thoughts’ is an ongoing climate psychology project that exists in iterative recreations in a variety of materials and locations, and cumulatively weaves together individual climate-disaster stories into a global narrative. It approaches the topic of environmental sustainability as a human rights issue and aims to highlight the impact of the global climate crisis on mental health. The ‘Canopy of Thoughts’ metaphor depicts a protagonist navigating an overwhelming haze of uncertainty, a suspended canopy of criss-crossing thoughts, emotions, and contextual factors. 

‘Canopy of Thoughts’ (pilot study and film 2021), was designed, facilitated, and produced by Elyssa Sykes-Smith for her Master of Fine Arts thesis project at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. The project works towards illustrating the problem question: “How to define and measure experiences of dissociation through the metaphorical relationship of protagonist and narrative that utilises concept mapping techniques and sensory aspects to understand the role of embodiment in climate psychology?”. A select group of participants impacted by the Australian bushfire season of 2019-2020, located in the region of the South Coast in New South Wales, were invited to participate in the study. Participants completed a Climate Disaster History Survey, a facilitated concept mapping session, and a follow-up interview. The film ‘Canopy of Thoughts’ 2021 presents a structured exploration of the data collected from the study, portrayed through an embodied performance, and overlayed with verbatim interview quotes and a symbolic narrative.
 
At the current stage of analysis there appears to be evidence which suggests that dissociative states are experienced as a result of climate disasters alongside the predominant states of grief and anxiety, and that the research tools devised in this study appear to be a positive form of engagement for participants that enable them to recollect, reflect, express, process and engage with their imagination in a structured format. In addition to this, another main finding is that the performative study followed by editing the film continues to be a fundamental way in which to process the findings from the pilot study. The latter finding also supports the problem question with regards to utilising embodied processes to engage with the complex material within climate psychology, both from the point of view of a researcher and audience participant.
 
Presented at Palazzo Mora as part of TIME SPACE EXISTENCE, ‘Canopy of Thoughts’ 2023 showcases how qualitative data can be translated into a artwork by translating the materials collated during the 2021 project into an expressive reclaimed paper and timber installation that is visually and structurally integrated into the architecture of the site. Synthesising the poetic and the practical, the materials used to create this artwork have been salvaged from the packaging used to transport the other participant’s work and repurposed from a previous artwork. This iteration continues to function as a tool for research and engagement, it invites a new layer of interaction with the local and global community in Venice, an opportunity to learn about geographically distant climate-based disasters through the sharing of individual stories, presented through an intimate exhibition experience. 
 
In kind support: Architectural Association Interprofessional Studio
Research partner: Centre for the Study of Substructured Loss
Video editing and sound design: Nigel Christensen ASSG

Canopy Of Thoughts Soundscape

The ‘Elegant Warriors of Justice’ is a feminist, climate justice project that explores the intersection between gender, ecological sustainability, the urban landscape and mental health. Created as a collaboration between Pakistani artist Zoya Alina Currimbhoy and Australian artist Elyssa Sykes-Smith, the project will take the form of a series of large-scale multimedia installations designed in response to the holding cells at The Koppel Project Station. The exhibition is accompanied by a public programme of events, talks and workshops which are free to the public.

The Elegant Warriors of Justice represent archetypes of justice and the divine feminine. They are creative souls, passionate sensual artistic beings who through their expressions cut through the rigid optics and social structures of the city by interjecting fluidity and care into it. They embody strength by redefining it. The Elegant Warriors of Justice open themselves up to the vast pain inflicted by the city’s corporate greed mechanism and to the deep complex grief regarding the sacrifices of the natural environment. They feel and address it instead of disassociating from it. And from this place of honesty, they activate hope. Within the exhibitions, the Elegant Warriors of Justice and their creative expressions manifest as public artworks within the urban spaces portrayed, depicted as sculptures, murals, integrated design, lighting, projections, sound and movement.

Can artists contribute to making the world a more sustainable place in the future? What hand do artists and creatives play in healing complex societal issues? What is the impact of depicting powerful archetypes of female warriors on the public?

This debut collaboration materialises ideas generated out of a mutual passion about feminism, environmental justice and art. The artists draw upon their vastly different cultural backgrounds with regards to personal lived experiences as women in society and the manifestation of feminism in their cultures. Additionally, they are motivated through the shared experiences of their home countries being subject to climate-based disasters in recent years including drastic floods in Pakistan and unprecedented bushfires in Australia. Throughout the development of this collaboration and exhibition of the project, they seek to broaden ways of thinking to develop new models of processing ideas and working with groups to encourage a conversation about intersectional climate justice in an urban environment.

Generated from a place of deep hope and passion for our future, the Elegant Warriors of Justice harness the imagination into action, creating a space for such types of complex archetypes to exist and flourish in the contemporary world.

Soundscape Elegant Warriors Of Justice

Eastside Radio: Reclaimed Chaos Sculpture by the Sea 28.10.24

Elyssa Sykes-Smith is continuing research and development of her ongoing Mind Walk project that focuses on the themes of memory, detachment, anxiety and trauma. 

Mind Walks are sensory performances consisting of guided walking tours, visualisations and workshops with participants to facilitate intuitive interactions between the subject, myself, architectural locations, psychological states and artistic material prompts. Through sight deprivation subjects have an opportunity to experience their other senses in a heightened state (i.e. sound, touch, smell), explore their environment from an altered perspective and access their imagination.   

The artwork presented depicts the outcome derived from a series of Mind Walks undergone with the self. The work aims to translate intangible, emotional and psychological experiences into a physical metaphor that is further developed into sound: A sonic iteration of a childhood memory.

The Mind Walk project has been developed with the generous support of Create NSW through a Creative Development Fellowship 18/19.

Tick Tock Mind Walk Audio

Elyssa Sykes-Smith is continuing research and development of her ongoing Mind Walk project that focuses on the themes of memory, detachment, anxiety and trauma.

Mind Walks are sensory performances consisting of guided walking tours, visualisations and workshops with participants to facilitate intuitive interactions between the subject, myself, architectural locations, psychological states and artistic material prompts. Through sight deprivation subjects have an opportunity to experience their other senses in a heightened state (i.e. sound, touch, smell), explore their environment from an altered perspective and access their imagination.

The artwork presented depicts the outcome derived from a series of Mind Walks undergone with the self. The work aims to translate intangible, emotional and psychological experiences into a physical metaphor that is further developed into sound: A sonic iteration of a childhood memory.

The Mind Walk project has been developed with the generous support of Create NSW through a Creative Development Fellowship 18/19.

Breath Mind Walk Audio

Elyssa Sykes-Smith (b.1991, Australia) is an artist working in site-specific sculpture, installation, performance, socially engaged projects, education, and public art. In creating art for public space and designing participatory projects Sykes-Smith seeks to distil complex, psychological states into multisensory experiences incorporating art practice, technology, psychology, and the sciences.

She seeks to translate the expressive qualities of the figure, exploring form, space and movement pushing the figure towards abstraction and approaching sculpture as a multisensory experience that incorporates many forms of media to explore issues of and experiences of humanity.When the sculpture not only responds to a site but also brings it to life, a dynamic relationship is created between the audience, artwork and surrounding environment. Key concerns involve encouraging her audience to experience an environment from an altered perspective and connecting to an artwork through a visceral, embodied response. 

Elyssa Sykes-Smith continues to advocate for human rights and environmental sustainability.

Elyssa Sykes-Smith Artist

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