Harriet Body is a MFA student in COFAʼs School of Media Arts. Her practice involves investigating ideas of process as well as biological and spiritual influences to discover how (and perhaps why) a person produces an artistic artifact.
During the studio residency at NIEA pop-up in The Rocks, Harriet will continue the preliminary stages of her research by exploring the spiritual body whilst acting creatively. In doing so she will examine ideas of ʻbeing presentʼ as characterized by Zen philosophers within the Enso. The Enso is a painted circle that is representative of the process undergone in order to create it. Zen practitioners believe that the Enso represents the universe as it is to the artist within that moment of painting.
In addition to her research of Zen and ʻpresentnessʼ, Harriet will begin exploration into her own biological body as a continuation of her interest in process and performance. She has begun collaboration with an electrician and sound engineer who has assisted in the development of microphones that are able to pick up the internal sounds within a body.
Harriet plans to develop an artwork using these microphones and will present the preliminary stages of this during an open studio event at the NIEA studio.
