Us and Our Bodies

Born into a body, we bring our essence into a physical moving form. A form that changes and transforms with age, emotion, and demands of our mind. The body with all its machines. The smallest cell forming a blood drop. Or our skin, the largest organ, in constant change. Doron Hanoch writes about working with bodies and his view of the inspiring work of Doron Polak, an artist, curator, collaborator and amazing human being.

The body is a beautiful tool of exploration to all that happens within us. With the help of the body we can explore simple movement and relationships to different materials. We can observe the body as its functioning reflects our inner state. We might find stiffness of muscles as we touch a cold object. This could be due to an association or projection from the past as the body is wrapped with thread or mud. 

Soap to the body might feel like a certain material, yet with the aid of the mind, this bar of soap might translate into a much deeper meaning. <strong>Cleansing, holocaust, army?</strong> This meaning will come to manifest in the movement of the body. Through the expression of the face or the strength of the grip.

The Body and The Mind

The body is an outer manifestation of the mind. Peeling layers of our mind, allowing the full levels of life to be experienced fully. We must allow the body to take us on a journey. Peeling outer layer of clothes, symbols of society, exposing conditioning remained from childhood. Or revealing deep desires and surrendering into the vomit of emotions as they appear.

At times the work with the body is like a deep meditation, a practice of yoga, of no separation. When naked, flowing with whatever environment, objects or materials are present; we drop the sense of observer, of the feeler or the one touching. We discover the experience of the object or environment by complete surrender. Allowing the mind to drop away, dissolve into the vibrant experience of living energy, the separation between the knower and the known slips away, and molecules of energy flow into each other creating a unified field of force, not a good or bad force, but just one whole energy field.

Polak has found his way into the full and honest exploration of his body and mind. Starting with little steps, with working with others, Polak eventually realizes that he needs to dive in himself to experience the full potential of the work. The work is of solitude in a social setting. There is the element of the camera, of the other person present in the work, the one documenting. At times the work is of both, of complete surrender on both sides, and at times it is of Polak with his body, demanding no limits, no hiding, that releases all that is hidden behind the layers of masks we may wear in our day to day life. Polak has taken on the task of peeling it all away, willing to surrender into what ever the outcome may be.

The result is a work that is most tender, vulnerable and sincere. It is almost an addiction to expose truth, the truth that is beyond words and social standards, that of honest inner exploration arriving from the heart, the spiritual heart.