Queer Journey of a Somatic Earth Artist: An Interview with Ahjo Sipowicz

Join us for a conversation with Ahjo Sipowicz where we discuss their path into radical embodiment and the creation of their book EarthBodyBoat.

Topics we cover include:

• Coming into wholeness as a neurodivergent, genderqueer creature
• Meaning-making and integration after altered state experiences
• Using scores and performance to connect with the earth and ourselves
• Freeing the rivers dammed by patriarchy and colonialism
• Croning, eldership and aging
• Divination and art-making with an Iphone
• Making a book to make community

About Ahjo:

I am a white, non-binary, neurodivergent, pansexual, elemental creature, residing for 30 years on Tewa land at O’gha Po’oge—White Shell Water Place—Santa Fe, New Mexico. My ancestors, primarily Lithuanian and Norwegian, migrated to the Chicago area where I was born and raised. In 1989 I studied the Life Art Process at the Tamalpa Institute with Anna Halprin. The values of the Life Art Process continue to guide me—including creative process over end product, creating dialog between expressive mediums, communicating with the self, life through ritual, performance, and art making.

I call myself a “somatic earth artist,” one who is in apprenticeship with both the personal and earthly soma, and expresses both the conflicts and the Eros of these relationships through art. My art arises out of my InBodyNature practice, in which I actively dialogue with nature—communicating, performing, witnessing, and creating in collaboration. I bridge these experiences with writing, video documentation, and visual art through the technology of iPhone apps and composite photography. I am a self-published author of the newly released memoir/artist journal, EarthBodyBoat: Queer Journey of A Somatic Earth Artist.

Find Ahjo online:

• Ahjo’s book, EarthBodyBoat: https://ahjo.art/earthbodyboatbook
• Ahjo’s website: https://ahjo.art/
• On Social Media:
• • https://www.facebook.com/Sipps.sipowicz
  • https://www.instagram.com/ahjo_k_sipps/

Links to relevant resources:

• Tamalpa Institute: https://www.tamalpa.org/
• Karen Divine Iphone Artist: http://www.karendivinephotography.com/

Links to So Many Wings’ social media and website:

• On the web: https://somanywings.org
• On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somanywingspodcast
• On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/somanywingspodcast
• On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/join/somanywingspodcast