How Do We Compost Our Emotions?
How Do We Compost Our Emotions?
How Do We Compost Our Emotions?
A side shot of one of the bright-red neon spiral sculptures which shows its organic conical form.
This work started with the question: is grief how we compost our emotions? The process of composting taught Saleh important lessons that are easily transferable to the grieving process: in both, air and breath are important. A compost pile has to be turned regularly to allow air in since it is necessary to break down and transform the organic matter that will nourish the soil. Saleh equated this process to the importance of working with one’s breath; intentional breath is to grieving what air is to composting. The two neon sculptures photographed represent these two conjoined processes. The spiral and conical form are metaphors for their infinite nature, where there is no beginning and no end.
— Nouf Saleh
How Do We Compost Our Emotions?
A close-up image of Saleh in a black striped sweater, stirring the compost bin inside the tent.
Nouf Saleh was born and raised in the Sanaani mountains; raised also by the Mostarian river, and the Midwestern lakes. Saleh is being and creating on occupied Dakota and Anishinaabe land, aka Minneapolis, MN. They are an artist, designer, cultural worker and organizer. Her practice is a place for to work through familial and societal expectations that are set for how a black woman from Sana’a is supposed to be or dream. In their most recent work, they speculate and research identity, time, collective memory, grief, familial relations, secrets, and absence. Their practice is a catalyst for their own healing, and is also their grieving process.