Pausing to Look Closely - Mindful Connections in the Digital Era

I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to collaborate with artists Marta Gorski and Alana Biffert who won an open call to exhibit their “CROMMAEA” work through the Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle.

Their work is about body-image, objectification, and female sexuality in our digital era, presented through a lens of vulnerability and mindfulness to challenge the viewer to pause and reflect. So… their exhibition perfectly intersects with my work and passions, especially what I address in my book, From Madness to Mindfulness: Reinventing Sex for Women!

They interviewed me about these topics for the online digital portion of their exhibit, and about how we can navigate our current obsession with access to private spaces through public portals…and how to know ourselves and genuinely connect with others.

To explain more about CROMMAEA, the artists write:

“This work is about voyeurism, body image, and the double-ended perspective of the lens. We are asking our viewers to look mindfully at our physical structure, our cells, our universal skin, and to pause, allowing the sensory system to take in our anatomy. During this time, the winter season and our global battle with physical distancing we are window shopping as much for objects as we are for humans. In a global grab for attention, we spend our days scrolling for relevance. We flip through shot after shot with flaring opinions as humans slip in and out of the land of objecthood. Steadily and intensely without shame, this is becoming a prominent way of spending our time. This is an exploration of the digital era, not a criticism, it’s about bridging the gap between the people in front of and behind the screen.”

Check out our conversation and interview about how uniquely challenging these topics are in today’s world … and what we might be able to start doing differently.

-Dr. Jenn Gunsaullus, San Diego Keynote Speaker, Intimacy Coach, & Sociologist