Barbara Bickel

Introduction

Art as a primary ethical form of compassion might be one of the only realms left from which we can open channels towards the humane.  – Bracha L. Ettinger 
                                                      
Ritual is at the core of my creative artworking practice. It serves as a centering mechanism that empowers me to enter spaces of desire, grief, and the unknown with radical trust. Engaging art-making as a relational process of art-care with humans and more-than-human(s) opens me to realms of co-inquiry, learning, unlearning and healing that are abundant, playful, unsettling and mysterious. I trust the wisdom and power of art to teach with com-passion. When I follow art, I learn what I am afraid of, what I have been avoiding, and what I have been longing for. I begin to hear myself and the world in previously hidden keys, and I can glimpse what was previously inarticulate. When I collaborate with artists, and those who do not yet call themselves artist, I open to that which can be transformative and restorative. In witnessing and wit(h)nessing each other with care and compassion, the possibility to migrate beyond the individual ego-limited self toward that which is greater-than emerges. Collaborating with the Earth in my artworking practice has brought me into a living and loving relationship with my ancestors, both human and more-than-human(s). It has been a slow journey of awakening to those who have always been with/in me, and for which I am indebted to art and its compassion.

Barbara Bickel, 2026