Kami
Olson
Plant me with the Lavender (2018)
April 28th - May 5th
My undergrad thesis show displayed the works that I had made in one academic year, spanning multiple media such as; oil paint, film photography, ceramic, etchings, and a documented performance piece. This body of work reflects my passion about the soil and cycle of life. The show incorporated poetry with themes of natural burial and growth, reminding humanity we are one with the dirt our feet touch.
The paintings in this show were themed around a poem written by myself and Linzi Garcia, each painting is an illustration or representation of a line from the poem. The poem is as follows:
I wish I was a Garden
by Kami Olson and Linzi Garcia
Plant me with the Lavender
braid my soft dark petals between uncut blades
press seedlings into each crease of my soiled skin
bury my root-turned toes to share kisses with worms
season by season I will grow
you will wait to harvest me
let the moon decide my shade
let the bees arouse me
and transfer my soul to the next sprig
oil paint, 2017
oil paint, 2018 (full title; Braid my soft dark petals between uncut blades)
oil paint, 2018
oil paint, 2018 (full title; Bury my root turned toes to share kisses with worms)
oil paint, 2018
oil paint, 2018 (full title; Season by season I will grow you will wait to harvest me)
oil paint, 2017
oil paint, 2018
oil paint, 2018
Two copper plate etchings, 2017
Reduction woodcut, 2018
Copper etching, 2017
Copper etching, 2017
Copper etching, 2017
Copper etching, 2017
Aquatint, 2017
Earthenware and mixed media, 2018
Earthenware and mixed media, 2018
Earthenware and mixed media, 2018
35mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
120mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
120mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
35mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
35mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
35mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
35mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
35mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
35mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
35mm Silver Gelatin Print, 2018
Performance Piece: Return
by Kami Olson and Isaiah Marcotte
This piece was filmed out on Heartland Prairie Cemetery near Salina Kansas, a green burial plot where the people laid to rest are buried without caskets or chemical preservation. It encourages the natural decomposition of the body into the land whilst letting the native plant life grow. This piece encompasses the final journey every one will face, in a peaceful submission to let go and be a vessel for life after death.
Special thanks to Sarah Crews from the Heartland Burial Cemetery.
(I do not own the rights to the music)