Issue 31 Special Edition: Thought Path Forest Mind

"The Earth is in crisis. The Forests I paint are older and wiser than any of us humans. The Forests are trying to tell us how important they are to our physical, emotional, and aesthetic survival...."

Welcome to KHÔRA, a dynamic online arts space produced in collaboration with Lidia Yuknavitch’s Corporeal Writing. Visit our Archive to read previous issues. Scroll down if you’d like your work to be considered for future issues.

Issue 31: Special Edition

Do you have more in your inbox than you can read in a day? Us too. In this Issue 31 Special Edition, we’ll send you 1 piece at a time rather than the entire issue all at once. If you’d like to be considered for future publications, scroll down to learn more about KHÔRA’s 500 Words and KHÔRA’s Images.

Today’s love bite below is a piece by Venka Payne. Venka lives in the Columbia River Gorge, in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, and takes inspiration from the fragments of Ancient Forest that still exist there. Writing and painting have always been intertwined in her process, but it was painting that she first identified as her mode of expression, and considered to be her work. Venka paints with transparent watercolors on cotton watercolor paper. The work itself involves watching, waiting, and layering: water and paint. When the paintings are finished, she mounts them onto professional wood panels. Then to protect them, she waxes and/or varnishes them. Venka’s purpose in this life is to convey her love for Ancient Forests and bring that love into people’s homes and lives. This is a constant theme for both her writing and art. Please receive her gratitude for connecting with her work in this way.

Check out the full Issue 31 Special Edition, and if you missed our previous issues, visit our Archive.

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Thought Path Forest Mind by Venka Payne

(I)

There is a path

I tend to follow

through the depths

of my mind

It is narrow and winding

but even this dim evening

can be seen

As the crow flies

it seems a curving line

through the middle

of deep green

textured space

Come a little lower

here I am

cold wet silvery ribbons

around bare feet and ankles

limber body exudes

a swaying freeness

an Old Growth Forest

in my mind’s eye

Read Thought Path Forest Mind.

Venka Payne, Forest, watercolor on paper, 20 x 30 inches, 2011. Courtesy of the artist.

Venka Payne’s Artist Statement

I seek to share, expand, and create Forest Multiverses inside the bodies of viewers and readers. My work is inspired by the remnants of Ancient Forests of the Pacific Northwest. The viewer is led deeper into an Old Growth Forest through painting and poem portals. The Earth is in crisis. The Forests I paint are older and wiser than any of us humans. The Forests are trying to tell us how important they are to our physical, emotional, and aesthetic survival. I am one of the translators of Forest language, image, and voice, and I seek to reintegrate Forest and human connection. Through accessing the Forest Mind, I seek the worldwide restoration of kinship and spiritual rejuvenation that comes from Ancient Forests and connects us all at the roots. I hope my work inspires the preservation of Old Forests, and the reforestation of the world.

Read Thought Path Forest Mind.

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Swim around in KHÔRA.

Artists and Writers

We’re looking for features and our future teams! To enter KHÔRA’s collaborative waters:

1. Writers, read about KHÔRA’s 500 Words here.

2. Artists, send your artwork to KHÔRA's Images here.

Team-based, collaborative, and curated, KHÔRA is a form that is continually opening. We invite you to join us in sustaining it together. We don't believe in rejections. KHÔRA’s 500 Words is about considering how multiple voices can be heard; how frameworks, traditions, and projects can inform each other; and how new perspectives emerge from collaboration and openness. If you are a visual artist or interested in sharing your artwork or images, ready about KHÔRA’s Images here.

Your words/images will always remain active in KHÔRA’s ocean, and you won’t ever receive a notice of rejection from us. We know this process is not perfect; we wish to stay open to the possibility that at any point, your work will be a fit for a curated issue or team collaboration. This doesn’t need to be a completed piece—think of it like a sample of your work at any length up to 500 words.

Once you send 500 Words, your work will remain in our inclusive and expansive space. You can send 500 Words more than once—there’s no limit to how many times you can send us new work; just no repeats, please. KHÔRA doesn’t publish previously published work, but feel free to share any 500 words you want as a sample (published or unpublished).

If you love what you’re seeing, please subscribe, share, tweet, retweet, and post, and KHÔRA will be back soon.

With galactic gratitude,

Leigh Hopkins
and the Corporeal/KHÔRA squad

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