Through the Spring and Summer seasons of 2024, I was fortunate to be featured as the Artist in Residence at Bellingham’s Lost Giants Cider Company.
It was a significant moment for both myself and the establishment – their first time having uncensored nudity on the walls. And for me, despite working with fine art nude and forest bathing boudoir photography since 2017, it was the first time a brick & mortar business had the courage to say yes to nakedness.
Lost Giants is special because it’s home to Bellingham Treehouse Yoga on Tuesday and Thursday nights during dark and cold nights. It’s the first space I stepped into to find community when I arrived in December 2022 – having absolutely zero plan for anything, and knowing no one.
Below are the photos that were on display – all of which are available to purchase as prints in a variety of sizes. Send me a message if you’d love to hang one on your wall to celebrate the beautiful experience of being a naturally naked. You can find other prints here (and stickers!).
The show ended, but here is what I shared about both myself and why I create my art.
I’d love to hear from you if it touches you!
ARTIST STATEMENT
Savannah Wishart is a multi-dimensional artist newly transplanted to Bellingham, WA after building her life and business in Stockholm, Sweden for much of the last decade. As a commercial photographer, she studied business and advertising at the Brooks Institute of Photography, graduating in 2012. Since then, she devoted her work at The Primal Revolution to writing, food styling, and photography within the realms of “primal health.” Clients have ranged from lululemon, Paleo Magazine, prAna, Rekyl Atlet, CrossFit Journal, small gyms, inspired individuals – amongst others. Focusing on paleo food, functional fitness, and nature, her work is a reflection of the lifestyle she curates: harmoniously living with mother nature, training her body with discipline, and fueling with clean energy.
In 2017, she stepped into the world of nude self portraiture and began to build The Beast Goddess, a creative practice to heal after leaving an abusive relationship. By removing the physical layers across our skin, we are better able to begin to remove toxic layers built up in the mind. As an artist living outside of the status quo, she has always believed that the way we live our life is the greatest creative endeavour. Paired with the creative curation of our lives, she sees the hard work we put into our training as synonymous with shaping a sculpture. Discipline, sweat, and sometimes tears deserve to be celebrated in the spotlight.
As an advocate for mental health, she brings awareness and conversation to personal experiences with depression, anxiety, and body dysmorphia. Self portraiture within the raw beauty of mother nature has a place to confront all three, and integrate a practice of healing.
The Beast Goddess is currently being rebranded under “Seeking Sophrosyne,” and she is focusing her writing under her Substack project, “Reclaiming the Wild Woman.”
Re-Imagining Mental Health
While living in Portugal in 2022, I was asked to create an expansive portfolio under the title “Re-Imagining Mental Health.” The desert images are part of that project, created with a friend. With a background of my own personal challenges with mental health, combined with coaching clients through their own struggles, bringing an empathetic voice to these topics is something my work stands for – whether in the world of writing or photography.
As I’ve photographed both myself and others, the feedback I’ve received is that being witnessed being innocently naked in the wilderness has had a calming, healing effect. Being nude is our most natural way of being human, and connecting with the natural environment with nothing but our skin can be a liberating, empowering experience. Both clients and myself walk away feeling more connected to the body and a more confident sense of self.
The gallery displayed here is a combination of self portraits and clients celebrating their bodies. Art of clients include the black & white rope image with the four landscapes on either side, as well as the smaller image of ropes and flowers. All others are self-portraits.
What is Shibari?
Technically speaking, Shibari is Japanese rope bondage. Search for it on the internet, and you’ll find an abundance of intense and intimidating imagery. Traditionally used to torture and humiliate prisoners, the practice carries dark and heavy stigmas – often associated with grungy dungeons and heavy BDSM.
It is, however, becoming more popular to be seen as an aesthetically pleasing art. And in my personal experience, Shibari is a supportive tool in healing and nourishing the nervous system. If you are prone to Flight when in a state of stress, the feeling of rope can pull your attention back into your body.
Imagine the comfort received from a hug. The rope acts as that hug, stimulating oxytocin.
For most people in “the scene,” there is a clear relationship between the rigger (person tying) and the submissive. I have chosen to see and feel this differently. To me, the rigger is simply a conductor. They are necessary. But my experience is with the rope, as it invites me into a meditative internal experience.
As a coach and creative, I have studied tools within the BDSM community that are beneficial when taken out of the context of the dungeon stereotype. My goal is to shine a romanticised light on a more innocent narrative and connect people with those tools which they wouldn’t otherwise come across.
If you’re feeling ready to celebrate your beautiful body in the heart of nature, send me a message or check out my page about booking a forest bathing boudoir photo shoot around Bellingham. And if you’re not quite feeling ready but want to work toward self-love as a goal, I can do that too!
