“Wild is about connection. Connection with the land, connection with the elements, and connection with ourselves. This photography project features people with marginalised identities and their connection with nature”
NOVA REID: THOUGHT LEADER, TED SPEAKER, AUTHOR AND PRODUCER
I vividly remember the first time I met Nova. I’d been invited to a wedding industry event at The Tower of London and Nova took to the stage, to give an unscripted, unplanned short speech. Nova ran Nu Bride at the time; the only place in the mainstream wedding media that focussed on diverse love stories. I was honestly captivated by Nova’s ability to engage and connect with a crowd.
I’ve got to know Nova over the years and I’ve even pointed my camera at her on other occasions. She modelled for a workshop I ran with her husband, she was a speaker at the conference I used to organise, I’ve photographed her in a wedding dress for a bridal magazine, and I’ve followed her journey from wedding blogger to published author and anti racism activist and educator.
The impact of activism and nature as self care
I continue to be in awe of the work Nova does. Any activist who represents marginalised or oppressed communities is forced to connect with their trauma over and over again. Experiences of discrimination, violence and abuse become a vehicle for educating others. Nova is a force to be reckoned with but she’s also a beautifully sensitive and gentle soul who has to be really intentional about the impact of the work she does and the ways in which she supports herself.
Nova’s connection with nature plays a part in this, so I knew I wanted to photograph her for WILD. I asked Nova about her connection with nature and its role in her life.
Nova told me that she allows herself to be held and unburdened through her connection to the Earth. Some of the forms this takes include walking barefoot on the earth to find grounding, as well as connecting with the Earth to release what no longer serves her. This is really aligned with my own spiritual practices. My connection to nature is my biggest source of grounding and I need to intentionally come back to it over and over again to find balance.
Connection to water: weightlessness and releasing our burdens to the ocean
We also talked about Nova’s love of the water. She swims regularly, but had to overcome anxiety about drowning to be able to do this. In spite of her fear, one day Nova went out into the middle of the ocean on a kayak, accompanied by Arthur, a lifeguard she befriended in Jamaica. For Nova, Arthur was an ancestral intervention; sent as a guide to support her.
With Arthur’s support, Nova got into the water, floated on her back and allowed the ocean to hold her.
This is such a beautiful example of Nova’s bravery. Being held by this vast body of water also created space for her to process grief that she was experiencing at the time.
That feeling of being weightless and releasing our burdens to the water really resonates with me. Stepping into open water always feels like a big, deep breath out. A sigh of release.
Connection to land and ancestral trauma
Nova and I talked about connection to land and I wondered what this feels like to her. Nova was born in the UK but her Ancestral lands include Jamaica, Nigeria, Kenya and Sierra Leone. I wasn’t all that surprised to hear that the strongest Ancestral pull for Nova is to the African continent, because that’s where her indigeneity lies. Generations spanning back through time.
Like many people from the Caribbean, Nova’s family history will always be connected to the violence of slavery and colonisation. The history of the land itself will always hold the scars of violence against enslaved people, as well as the scars of genocide against indigenous communities.
Where connection land can feel complicated, Nova’s connection to water is a constant.
I reflected that while we name and define ‘oceans’, there is only one ocean and it surrounds the whole of the Earth. If you step into the water in Southend-on-Sea (Nova told me she would never; too cold) you’re standing in the same body of water as someone who steps into the ocean in Casablanca.
Winter and the absence of bird song
Nova doesn’t have a favourite season but winter feels lonely, because she misses the sound of birdsong. The backdrop of birds singing from Spring through to Autumn is something that Nova especially loves, particularly in her garden.
This garden is another place where she likes to feel herself barefoot on the Earth. A little pocket of her own land that’s also a space for nourishment. She grows herbs and spices that then make their way into her cooking.
I think this beautifully sums up the quote that inspired this project
“the doors to the wild self are few but precious”
We can find our wild self floating on our backs in the middle of an ocean or barefoot in our back garden listening to bird song.
I’m grateful to Nova for taking the time to walk with me and share her love of nature. I especially loved seeing her joyful and barefoot in the lake. If you’d like to connect with her work, check out her book The Good Ally, and her anti-racisim course.
Check out more of my WILD shoots:
WILD: LEANNA
WILD: KERRY
WILD: JESSICA (nsfw)
WILD PROJECT GALLERY
If you’d like to work with me you can get in touch here.