Sutra for Belonging is a multimedia installation integrating audiovisual projection, my own writing, and handmade sculpture. A live performance of the work was presented on March 20, 2025 at They Hyde Collection in Glens Falls, NY.
The duration of the projection is 28 minutes and is presented as a loop in the live installation. The video above is a 3.21 minute distillation of the work. The full length video of the work can be seen here.
A 'sutra' in Jainsim and Buddhism is a spiritual teaching. In Sanskrit it means 'thread' as in the threads woven into a wisdom teaching. In Arabic 'sutrah' means 'covering' and in Islam, it is what protects the one who is in prayer, something physical holding the space of liminality.
Belonging is a place, a sense of being, something begat of symbiosis, of need and desire. Ecosystems, cultures, lives, dreams end in the absence of belonging. The abrogation of belonging runs through every dimension of extinction we face and that we as humans are the face of.
The poem that threads through Sutra for Belonging is a love poem to the world, just as we are, now, in this moment.Millicent Young Sole originator. Direction, cinematography, audio recording, verse, graphics, voice, sculpture.
Timothy Hill Voice, tanpura, lyre, guitar.
Wes Milholen
Digital temporal production assistance.
