What I put in the ground is for us is an exploration into burial, love and art as an act of caring for the land, with aim to explore rituals and creative practices that exist beyond the colonial agenda. The piece examines our relations with art and valued objects, contending that a work can still hold immense value despite a lack of colonial/capitalist-defined function or visual consumption. Privacy sparks intimacy between the artist and the land; performance challenges preservation. Fleeting moments can still be archived in the heart. They do not require affirmation from unnecessary eyes. Burial is no longer an end or an erasure, but a preservation and a ritual–a means to be everlasting. The poem, that has been buried twice, first within felt–as protection, insulation, or privacy–then within the ground, is an object of my love. It was a love letter to my loved ones; a love that resides outside of 'platonic' or 'romantic' or 'queer' or 'serious' or 'casual'. It is just my love, simple and complex as it is. Through this performance of burial, a gift of love was given to a dearest one–a gift not erased through burial but, archived as an eternal memory and ritual. A gift for the land, a gift for us.
