Notes from: Earth Day

2022

For Earth Day April 22, 2022, I had the opportunity to collaborate with the Gulf Coast Symphony Orchestra and SWFL RESET Center for a wonderful celebration and concert. I was asked to create a film in response to composer Anna Clyne's "Restless Oceans”, music played during the concert that night. Anna Clyne's composition was inspired by a poem, "A Woman Speaks" by Audre Lorde and my response was inspired by Native American poet (1873-1908) Alexander Posey's eco-poem, "My Hermitage" beautifully narrated by Susan L. Parker InternationalVoice.

I had been wanting to create a film with a Native American poem and am thrilled it worked so well for an Earth Day installation. I chose it not only for the poet, but also the poem’s references to sound and music, lines such as: “I lived with echo and with sound”, “the far, the wandering sound” and “far blown bits of melody”.

Posey’s classic poem was written in the early 1900s yet is still touching and relevant today. Alexander Lawrence Posey was an American poet, humorist, journalist, and politician in the Creek Nation. He founded the first Native American daily newspaper and published editorial letters written by a fictional figure who commented pointedly about Muskogee Nation, Indian Territory, and United States politics during the period of the dissolution of tribal governments and communal lands.

Good Natured. My Hermitage, the sixth film in the series was projected outside on the beautifully angled architectural building on the Campus of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fort Myers.

~Lori H. Ersolmaz

2021

In 2021, I spent Earth Day under an enormous ficus tree, which was magical in itself. At this point I had never projected onto a building from forty feet away and at least 25 feet high. It was quite an experience. Each projection mapping project has its own unique needs. Here, I was totally out in the open arranging the image on the building several nights before and the Mercato shopping center has quite a bit of foot traffic at night. Many people were curious about what I was doing, including questions and puzzled looks even when I explained. On Earth Day and the weekend, I showed two short films from the series, Good Natured. No Words, poem by Australian poet, Margaret Clifford and Good Natured. H20, poem by Florida Poet Laureate, Peter Meinke. It was certainly a unique way to spend Earth Day and promote awareness. ~Lori H. Ersolmaz