#10 | Queering the Pandemic - Day Schildkret (Morning Altars)
“Beauty is not just a thing to make money or be entertained with, but it actually has a function, which is to court life.”
We live in wild times. So much has changed since I published my previous episode of this podcast. A global pandemic is now sweeping the world, with country after country imposing severe lock downs and many people retreating into isolation.
In Canada, we are just beginning to feel the impact, and the future is deeply uncertain. Which is why I am deeply honoured to share my conversation today with my friend and beauty maker Day Schildkret.
Day calls himself an impermanent earth artist, who has developed quite a following with his practice of Morning Altars – gorgeous mandalas that he builds through foraging for natural materials in each place that he goes.
In fact, I highly recommend pausing this podcast and visiting his Instagram to see this beauty for yourself.
In this episode, we begin with the obvious – speaking about the coronavirus that has now overtaken the public imagination. We explore his own roots as a young Jewish boy that was almost killed in a bombing in Israel, before coming out as gay in New York City and claiming his sexuality for the first time. And finally, we make a plea for the willingness to craft beauty in a time of fear, as a way to court life back into the center of the spiral.
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LINKS
Morning Altars – Official Website
Morning Altars on Instagram
SHOW NOTES
The eye of the story
Journey of the spiral from the center to the outside and back again
The origin of morning altars
The radical nature of impermanent art
The importance of play in regards to beauty-making
The relation between conduct and being a conduit
The surprising etymology of the word ‘museum’
Choosing to become orthodox jew at 13
Almost getting blown up at bus stop in israel
Going back to new york and exploring as a gay man
Culture of cruising for gay men
Queering masculinity
The willingness to make beauty in a time of chaos
Beauty courts life
What does place eat?
The etymology of ritual, to count rythm, find our way back into the rhythm of life
The importance of marking experiences and thresholds in the fabric of life
