Creation Begins in Darkness - Tracy Watts
Creation Begins in Darkness
Tracy Watts
I am observing, noticing and exploring a food forest, cultivated in and among a labyrinth, at The Grove, a Presbyterian church on the East side of Charlotte, NC. In 2019, a small group of church members visioned and built a labyrinth on the land behind the sanctuary of the church. In the Christian tradition, labyrinths are ancient and modern meditative tools featuring a winding walking path that typically represents a journey towards God.
I am drawn to this work in exploration of relationship to land and place, the role of the faith and healing in the context of the American Christian church and the wisdom of the women doing the majority of this work. Despite summers at my grandparents’ homes, I was raised in an urban city and church that was largely and intentionally disconnected from the land. My faith was not rooted in the soil. I lived much of my life and raised our family in the way I was raised until a late pivot in life and relationships brought land, place and an exploration of faith into focus.
I am doing this work with patience and a slow process of being present. I am finding wisdom, joy, and wonder in the quiet of these days on the land and digging into the soil.
This sequence of images covers the time from the winter solstice to the spring equinox.
Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Tracy Watts is a documentary artist living and rooted in Charlotte, NC. Becoming an artist later in life through the synthesis of life experience, nurturing family and an unusual combination of vocations, she has cultivated deep relationships and insights into community. She prefers the slow work of collaboration, listening and building trust and use environmental portraiture, visual and narrative storytelling, to evoke curiosity about our shared humanity while exploring race, religion and identity.
