EarthBodyBoat

Book excerpt: Ahjo's journey of initiation begins at a political protest when they expose their naked female nipples in a gesture of resistance. Charged with public indecency, Ahjo constructs an unusual defense--a pastiche of letters, journal entries, essays, poems, composite photographs, Tarot card images, and performances. EarthBodyBoat is this collection. Part visual journal, part memoir, it chronicles Ahjo's journey of discovering their nonbinary essence, of using art to heal their infant trauma and the multiple selves within. The Crone's voice emerges to guide them with "Earthbody" wisdoms. The way is fraught with marvel and peril, but Ahjo's art-making and embodied practice in Nature become the foundations, the keel, of their Earthbodyboat--a vessel sturdy enough to navigate the storms, inner and outer, and head toward home.--Publisher.