earth temple

by Nocturnal Medicine

April 2023
Set dressing by Grace Jung
Medium: rock, soil, rope, dried plants, snake skin, bee carcasses, candles, styrofoam, hydrogel

Earth Temple: A Sanctuary for Ecological Grief & Love was an immersive installation, a non-denominational house for ecological emotion & spirituality for the Jersey City community. Understanding that today’s layered environmental crises evoke a complexity of emotion in many of us—including fear, anger, grief, powerlessness—Earth Temple offered a place for these emotions to exist, to be approached with respect & care, & to become channels towards deeper accountability & connection to our environment & one another. 

Open to the public for one month, Earth Temple imagined a world where shared spaces for emotional & spiritual connection to our environment are a plentiful urban resource. The space was open regularly for visiting hours, and activated with programming throughout the month.

The project lives in honor of the indigenous people & cultures of Turtle Island, in love for the people, creatures, & places who have been harmed by this era of colonialism, exploitation, & pollution, & in response to the cultural paradigm of separating “human” & “nature” characteristic to the Western worldview. Earth Temple was supported by the Jersey City Arts & Culture Trust Fund.