November 9 through December 31, 2015
Emilie Bouvier
Os.se.ous | consisting of or turned into bone
How does the reality of ecological destruction inform our understanding of the sacred and mystical texts that speak to our origins – the stories that shape how we see both ourselves and the earth in which we breathe, move, and have our being? Bone of bone, dust of dust, cries coming from blood-soaked soil – these images come from the second creation narrative in Genesis, the origin narrative that informs the Judeo-Christian tradition. Another such story is told in Ezekiel. Amid a valley of lifelessness, dry dust and bone, Ezekiel istold to speak a prophetic word of life into the hopelessness. There is a rattling, a wind, and ghostlike happening in this mystical telling – a promise of life eclipsing death.
These photographs were made in light of these narratives – those of ancient texts and those of our communities and earth suffering from a changing climate. They are images of ecological lament and fragile vitality that invite an earth-formed perspective on narrative and justice in the age of climate crisis.
Artist: 
Emilie Bouvier is an artist and community organizer who lives and works in St. Paul. A recent graduate of Luther Seminary, where she had a two-year art residency, she works mainly in historic and alternative process photography and in clay, and has an interest in liturgical and community arts. Learn more at www.emiliebouvier.com.
