Spells for Healing

Thirty years ago my mother relocated to The Netherlands to start a new life that promised prosperity for her and her family back home. As her daughter, and thus second-generation immigrant myself, I have over the years observed the “spore”, in diaspora: a “scattering” or “sporadic dissemination” of body and mind. [1] 


Spells for Healing seeks to make visible the conditions of diaspora and fictions of survival, by zooming in on my mother. Wireless earbuds and live CCTV footage of her kin in Sri Lanka become portals to connect with her birthplace, while her body is still located in The Netherlands. As much as modern technology makes possible a connection beyond borders, it has transitioned my mother into a continuous state of liminality, of being in-between two worlds. Spells for Healing calls upon contemporary Wxtch Craft [2], specifically techno paganism [3], as a tool for storytelling and survival. I, the daughter, take on the skin of the witch, to create a rite of passage, a plea for healing. To engage with the work the viewer has to step into a fairy ring, which, in Western folklore, was understood dangerous for mortals, since it belonged to mythical beings like witches, fairies and the devil. The fairy ring could render the mortal invisible to the mortal world or teleport them into the mythical realm, for the mortal to be in-between forever.

[1] Brian Castro, “Caesura,” Griffith Review 6 (Summer 2004–2005): 43.

[2] Derived from the Wxtch Craft Fall and Spring Cycle at KABK Studium Generale 2020-2021. During this programe witchcraft was approached as a contemporary feminist liberatory practice, leaving essentialistic and binary notions of gender behind. Which explains the "x" in Wxtch Craft. https://www.kabk.nl/studium-generale/wxtchcraft

[3] Utilizing digital technology in magic ritual.

About Naomi Hubèrt

Naomi Hubèrt (she/her) is a freelance graphic designer and artist, working both self-initiated as on commission. During her studies in Graphic Design, she enrolled the Gender Studies minor at Utrecht University, to further develop her interest in academic theory and explorations beyond the “fixed”, Western, understanding of the world we live in. Her practice is rooted in (speculative) storytelling and research, where imagination and fiction becomes a tool to seek for otherworldly narratives. She is intrigued by juxtapositions of nature and digital technology, reality and fantasy, the digital (online, symbolic) and non-digital (offline, physical) realm and what this means for the self and our corporeality. 
Simultaneously, together with Esmée Dros and Heike de Wit, she initiated and takes part in CC: a collective and community that seeks to create a platform for femme and gender non-conforming artists in and around Arnhem and Amsterdam, from an equitable approach. For coffee, collaborations or any other inquiries, please don't shy away to be in touch :-)

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