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earthbhakti

⫷Earth Bhakti is a Creative Ecology by Artist Anja Marais Merging Art, Devotion, and Earth Stewardship.⫸

Thank you @beaumoontaos for making these incredibl Thank you @beaumoontaos for making these incredible animals part of my earthwork installation. Landwhale Belgian Horse manure is embedded in the adobe mixture and their beautiful presence is part of "Mountain Shrine". Much appreciated! See my link in my bio for the upcoming opening of the Earthwork on September 5th.
Piñon and ponderosa are encircling Mountain Shrine Piñon and ponderosa are encircling Mountain Shrine, their needles singing as wind is moving through the branches.

A hawk is landing overhead. Crows are circling and calling in their bird tongue. Monsoon clouds are gathering quickly, releasing across the mountains, then moving down the valley.

I am working among all this movement. A lizard is scattering between my feet, slipping into my shadow. An unfamiliar insect is carrying a worm across the ground. Squirrels are chasing through the branches.

The work is nearing completion, and I am already feeling the ache of leaving. I am spending my days among feathers, wings, paws, needles, clouds, and wind. Companionship is gathering everywhere around me.

See the link in the bio for the upcoming exhibition opening on September 5th at @blackbirdrefuge.
I am slaking lime for the finishing layer of Mount I am slaking lime for the finishing layer of Mountain Shrine.

Lime is spreading across the earthen surface, helping rain move away while wind and sun are continuing to touch the shrine.

The work is never meant to stay. Weather is entering, rain is wearing, wind is eroding and earth is loosening and returning.

Mountain Shrine in time is slowly diving like a whale back into the depths from which it is rising.

See the link in the bio for the upcoming exhibition opening on September 5th at @blackbirdrefuge by artist @anjammarais
I am moving through the finishing stages of Mounta I am moving through the finishing stages of Mountain Shrine.

Cactus-adobe plaster is settling into the curves and smoothing across the earthen surface. Lime is coming next.

I am feeling as though I am dressing a dear friend, tending the surface and watching the form emerge with every layer.

See the link in the bio for the upcoming exhibition opening on September 5th at @blackbirdrefuge by artist @anjammarais
I am researching building practices being carried I am researching building practices being carried through generations on these lands, and this part of the making is bringing me deep satisfaction.

I am learning how cactus is being worked into adobe, helping rain move across the surface rather than soaking deeply into the earth.

The cactus is growing here on the land. I am gathering it nearby and bringing it directly into the making of Mountain Shrine.

Plant, soil, water, and my hands are meeting again in the plaster.

See the link in the bio for the upcoming exhibition opening on September 5th at @blackbirdrefuge by artist @anjammarais
Mountain Shrine is taking form in the mountains of Mountain Shrine is taking form in the mountains of Valdez.

I am arriving without holding a finished picture. I am walking the site, touching the soil, watching the trees, feeling the wind, and listening for what is asking to happen.

The land is guiding the making. I am adding, removing, shifting, building, and waiting.

Each time I am returning, something is revealing itself through the work. The shrine is growing through this listening.

See the link in the bio for the upcoming exhibition opening on September 5th at @blackbirdrefuge.
At @blackbirdrefuge, earthbag building is being ta At @blackbirdrefuge, earthbag building is being taught through forms often being called Superadobe and Hyperadobe. I am carrying this building language into Mountain Shrine through my own making.

Saris from India and the local Hanuman temple are being cut, stitched into long tubes, filled with soil, and bent beneath my hands. 

Through this process, adobe is moving away from the straight line. The shrine is swelling, bending, and surrendering to earth.

See the link in the bio for the upcoming exhibition opening on September 5th at @blackbirdrefuge by @anjammarais
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Taos Song Circle

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I live and work on the ancestral lands of the Red Willow People of Taos Pueblo, as well as the Jumanos, Coahuiltecan, Comanche, Tonkawa, Lipan Apache, and Sana peoples.

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All Rights Reserved © Anja Tara Marais / Earth Bhakti LLC - Made with ♡ in New Mexico.

If we surrendered to Earth's intelligence we could rise up rooted, like trees.- Rainer Maria Rilke