October 2018 Digital RTT

L. Martina Young: Because of my academic work in depth psychology (the work of Jung, the work of James Hillman in archetypal psychology), as an artist, what often resonated through my studies, was the fact that all imagery comes with matter. In other words, what matters – what is mattering, for you. What is calling you.

The swan had been, and has been, calling me. It is at some point that we must actually pay attention in a holistic way. Turn to the image and say, 'What is it that you want of me?' So that tap on the shoulder showed up as a calling. I finally addressed the calling and thus it has opened up my interest, my joy, my journey to the swan as a complex image around which human stories have always been told. The image itself has been the conduit for particular human stories. So those particular stories have something to say about the swan throughout the human imagination, and continues to unfold and give meaning through the content of the stories themselves. What I'm continuing to address is to bring myself to closer readings of the stories in different cultures. As a whole perceiving organ, I see how individuals literally shape themselves to the idea of the swan. They go into some kind of reverie, some kind of memory, in the telling of their swan stories.

Oliver X: Give me an example of that memory creating ignition that the swan inspires and is a catalyst for.

L. Martina Young: Yes, I'd love to share that. I was in Italy three years ago and was in an international art exhibit, where I was performing one of the swans performance installations. I met with another artist who was a part of that exhibit.

She happened to be from Austria.

She's a very well-known painter in Austria and throughout Europe.

And we had a conversation and Reno Tahoe Tonight 53