"Nature is the foundation of indigenous life...The idea of a person born with a purpose, a purpose that needs to be supported by an active community presence, and the idea of working with subtle energies for balance and healing would be only grandiose notions in the absence of nature as the playground, as the school where the children can play and study.”  - Malidoma Patrice Somé

I’ve been slowly nurturing different kinds of spiritual practices. Testing them out, seeing if they feel right. A process of finding and following; following and finding.

Routing Diaspora Histories was an opportunity to be focussed, and closer, to old knowledge from West Africa, where part of my heritage is routed. It pushed me to be active with what I was reading, to try to embody it in my local environment in some way. 

"...family is important to the Akan…However…what the Akan takes to be good is achievable within the family as well as outside it. The ancient sages admonish, ‘Dee abe beto biara ye mpoye mu.’ This means, ‘Whichever terrain the uprooted palm-tree falls in, is the right place to tap it.’” - Kofi Bempah

As an uprooted person, I am grateful for this. 

My response to Malidoma Patrice Somé and Kofi Bempah was to do a regular walking practice through nature, going to the same place, noticing and responding to what was there and what was changing.

Watching the movement of time through nature's massive force sometimes gave me glimpses into what felt like a condensing of time - and even history - with my practising of drawing far backwards to gather nourishment for the present and, for sure carrying it to the future. 

The film is not the creative response. My phone was just my witness so I could tell you this story.

“The body of instructions Akans use to train their young is the Anansesem. However, the instructions are about morality and good citizenship and are not religious as such. The archetypal hero of the epic, Agya Kwaku Ananse, symbolises experience (agya) in this world.” - Kofi Bempah

Vanessa Ansa is an educator, community practitioner and co-founder of The South North CIC. She is interested in art, ritual, embodiment, food growing and food sovereignty. She is working on finding ways of living which nurture balance and internal knowingness.