Feeling Blue
An exploration of Blue Lotus consciousness through textiles, light, and ritual.
An installation that unfolded as both an environment and an experience, a living expression of plant consciousness shaped by the landscape in which it was created. At its center, a large-scale textile, dyed on-site, acted as the primary backdrop—absorbing the pigments of place, light, and time to embody the shifting essence of the Blue Lotus flower. A tree, suspended upside down, anchored the space as a symbolic brain—its roots pointing downward, referencing the subconscious as the origin of all thought, the unseen foundation of perception. The installation existed as a threshold, inviting participants into a dreamlike state where material and mind, body and botanical intelligence, wove into a single field of experience.
As night fell, the space transformed through the interplay of fire and projection. Candles flickered across the installation, casting shadows that moved like water, while projection mapping illuminated the environment with a visual narrative—tracing the journey of the Blue Lotus from the depths of the riverbed to its emergence into light. The ritual drinking of Blue Lotus tea further activated the space, deepening its resonance as a site of contemplation and transformation. The installation was not only a place to witness but a place to enter, an invitation to dissolve into the subtle intelligence of the plant, the land, and the expanded states they evoke.
This project was created for Mapping Revelations, a weekend-long gathering at Château du Fey in Burgundy, France. The festival explored consciousness through the lens of self, the collective, and the universe—bridging art, ritual, and inquiry within the historic walls of the château and its sprawling natural surroundings. As an offering woven into this larger tapestry, Feeling Blue existed as both an oasis and a portal—an invitation to slow down, to listen, and to witness the unfolding intelligence of both plant and place.