e211 azul carolina duque - art as medicine

• I think there is a responsibility we have as artists to relate to our artistry responsibly. And that has to do with sensing into our artistic sensibility as a medicine or a gift that we were given to come into this embodiment, to become the people that we are and share this medicine with the people in our community around us. And I think it's about asking the question, what is a medicine that I can bring? Not from a place of heroism, not from a place of saviorism, but from a place of genuinely, honestly inquiring, asking what is the medicine needed right now that my art can bring? And sitting with that question without needing to answer that question. So sitting with that question as a question that opens up more questions, as opposed to creating a product, that will be the answer for it.

My conversation with Azul Carolina Duque, artist, researcher and member of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures (GTDF) collective. This episode is 15-minute condensation of a much longer conversation recorded on September 16, 2024 in Victoria, British Columbia, the traditional territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples, specifically the Songhees and Esquimalt (Xʷsepsəm) Nations, and the W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. The complete conversation includes a conversation about  a new book by Vanessa Andreotti, Outgrowing Modernity: Navigating Complexity, Complicity and Collapse With Accountability and Compassion, that I’ll publish as a separate episode. This episode is focused on Azul’s research Reactivating Exiled Capacities project. You’ll also hear excerpts from a soundwalk Azul and I took in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria. Azul began with a powerful land acknowledgement.

Suggested action points

• Sense into your artistic sensibility as a medicine, or a gift, and share it
• Sit with the question: what is the medicine needed right now that my art can bring?
• Explore simplicity and subtlety to bring depth to your artistic practice
• How to relate to the dream world with more reverence and humility and what does that have to teach us that can be important for these times of collapse?
• How is our relationship with sound, listening, our own voice and with vibration important to cultivate as we experience accelerating levels of grief, despair and pain?

Episode notes generated by Whisper Transcribe AI

Story Preview

Imagine a world where art heals not just the soul, but also the deep-seated wounds of colonialism embedded within our very beings. Artist and researcher Azul Carolina Duque guides us on a journey of sound, reflection, and decolonization, inviting us to consider how art can reactivate lost capacities and foster a more accountable future.

Chapter Summary

00:00 The Artist’s Responsibility
01:20 Introducing Azul Carolina Duque
02:02 Land Acknowledgment and Connection
04:25 Sitting with Reality
05:06 Art and Culture in Crisis
06:44 Understanding Colonialism as a Disease
08:18 Reactivating Exiled Capacities
10:35 The Inquiry of Reactivation
12:09 Cultivating Service and Humility

Featured Quotes

• There is a responsibility we have as artists to relate to our artistry responsibly… to share this medicine with the people in our community around us.
• How can we expand our capacity to sit with the reality of things, to sit with… the good, the bad, the ugly, and the messed up, in order to respond from a place of more sobriety, maturity, more discernment and accountability?
• I was raised to be arrogant, and I still am in so many ways that I can’t even see, and some others that I hopefully can see.

Behind the Story

This episode captures a segment of a conversation with Azul Carolina Duque, focusing on her Reactivating Exiled Capacities research. Azul’s work with the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures collective explores how colonialism manifests at a molecular level, impacting our nervous systems and relationships. Through artistic exercises and somatic practices, she seeks to “neuro-decolonize” our bodies and reclaim capacities essential for navigating complex times.

Please see the transcript of this episode for hyperlinks of cited publications and organizations. For more information on season 6 of the conscient podcast see a conscient rethink or listen to it here.

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END NOTES FOR ALL EPISODES

Hey conscient listeners, 

I’ve been producing the conscient podcast as a learning and unlearning journey since May 2020 on un-ceded Anishinaabe Algonquin territory (Ottawa). 

It’s my way to give back.

In parallel with the production of the conscient podcast and its francophone counterpart, balado conscient, I I publish free ‘a calm presence' Substack see https://acalmpresence.substack.com.

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I am grateful and accountable to the earth and the human labour that provided me with the privilege of producing this podcast, including the toxic materials and extractive processes behind the computers, recorders, transportation systems and infrastructure that made this production possible. 

Claude Schryer

Latest update on July 8, 2025