Season I Artist Highlight: Vulnerability, and Collaboration in Photography with Luke Spencer.

Synovium Podcast

From the teachings of his Grandfather, Luke Spencer came to know the gifts of nature; its lessons, its care, and its warmth to heal. Watching him at a knee-height age in his worn Dickies safety shoes tending and nurturing the tomatoes, runner beans, and peppers in his greenhouse and running down the garden path with them fresh in a brown paper bag to gift to Nanny for her casserole, Luke experienced the gift of reciprocity; that we can heal and nurture nature, as much as it heals and nurtures us. It's these affectionate memories Luke comes back to on longs walks along the South Coast of England, where he engages with the sensory experience of being within the world and wild, of being grounded within the present moment to experience the joy of all beings micro and macro, and to embrace emotion with compassion and loving kindness. Through experiencing the difficulties that anxiety can bring within daily life, walking in nature provided a way of inviting these emotions in, to sit with them sheltered by the trees for a while, to respect and honour them, rather than to push them away. Acknowledging like the changing of the seasons their impermanence and embracing their toughness through tenderness. In his creative practice Luke centres these personal experiences of communing with nature. He looks to engage with our sensory relationship with nature through a curiosity of how mindfulness approaches, such as somatic dance, and regenerative methods can benefit our health and connection to the Earth. As well as providing a space for difficult emotions such as anxiety to be better understood and eased, and to be given a place for emotions to be heard and healed. It is this intertwining of science, spirit and story that is present throughout Luke's creativity. Through still and moving image, sound, and installation, he explores how being in nature in the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer; "can be a medicine for our broken relationship with the Earth, a pharmacopeia of healing stories that allows us to imagine a relationship in which people and land are good medicine for each other."