The Body is the Vessel: Archaeological and Intuitive Excavations in Rome + Pompeii

Self-Directed Artist Residency, August–September 2025

This project is made possible through the generous support of private art collectors

This 14-day self-directed artist residency focused on immersive, site-specific research in the ancient cities of Rome and Pompeii. This project challenges traditional boundaries within visual art by merging metaphysical connection with archaeological research.

This approach draws inspiration from figures like Frederick Bligh Bond, whose excavations at Glastonbury Abbey were guided by spiritual communication - a practice he documented in The Gate of Remembrance. It is also deeply informed by the work of Carolyn E. Boyd, an artist-turned-archaeologist whose decades-long study of the White Shaman mural revealed complex mythological systems encoded in ancient imagery. Both offer a lineage of inquiry where the boundaries between art, science, and the sacred begin to blur.

Centering on the Roman bathhouse as a site of embodiment, healing, and community, this work explores how art can respond to the energetic residue of place. This project is an opportunity to treat metaphysical data not just as a private experience, but as a legitimate methodology - one capable of retrieving and visualizing unseen or forgotten information. By working at the intersection of intuition, scholarly research, and site-based study, the project reframes what counts as valid data in both artistic and historical practices.