kathi hendrick

A look into PORTALS, part 2 —- One of the core intentions of this project is for the making to feel as alive as the final forms…For the process to embody the same principles as the film itself: interdependence, reciprocity, attunement to natural rhythms, collaboration, regeneration… This is a glimpse into the behind-the-scenes of how the live experience came to life. — (Credits for this work are listed in Part I, previously shared)

A look into PORTALS, part 1, a live, multidisciplinary experience weaving together spoken word, original music, movement, and film to guide audiences through a journey of transformation. Rooted in the poetry of the ‘PORTALS’ book and expanded through the visual world of film (which will finally be publicly released in 2026 through festivals and select media platforms!), the live experience invites participants to cross thresholds between worlds — the underworld, the natural world, and the celestial — mirroring the soul’s own passage through descent, renewal, and reemergence. It was premiered this year in 2025 at the @garthnewelmusiccenter , as the featured performance within the @livingartsgathering . The piece blends immersive soundscapes, voice, and embodied ritual to create a space where art becomes ceremony. Each performance is designed as a site-responsive experience, shaped by the architecture, acoustics, and energetic field of its location to evoke deep presence and reconnection with the living world. — CONCEPT + CREATIVE DIRECTION: @kathihendrick EXECUTIVE PRODUCTION: Kathi Hendrick / @cuneya DIGITIAL DIRECTION + PRODUCTION: @benjaminhenretig POST-PRODUCTION + EDIT: Kathi Hendrick / Benjamin Henretig DANCERS: Kathi Hendrick / Cornelia Hodges LIVE MUSIC COMPOSITION + PERFORMANCE: @robotkoch FILM SCORE: Benjamin Henretig GUEST MUSICIANS: @jeannettefang (piano), @fitzgaryviola (viola) — This was made possible with the generous support of The @bathcountyartsassociation , The Virginia Hot Springs Preservation Trust, @visitbathva , The Garth Newel Music Center, private donors, and friends who collaborated along the way. I want to sincere thank you to all who supported this coming to life this year. It’s truly been a dream come true.

Our bodies are woven of the same patterns, energies and forces within all of nature and the cosmos itself. We’re meant to evolve, unfold, and express in the same way a flower blooms into the world. Each of us is a wildly unique constellation of elements and energies, and yet, there is an archetypal landscape that connects us all. There is a natural, organic way we are meant to move as ourselves. It’s when we stop this free flowing movement that life becomes rigid and contained, and the vital creative impulse that is innate to every single one of us dims. And so, the practice is to come into radical relationship with every part of life — every feeling, every sensation, every experience, past and present — so we can live fully and artfully. For that, we need to come back to the body, the space where all of this becomes known and felt…the space where we can come to know how we relate to ourselves and the world around us through how we move…fast, slow; sharp, fluid; contracted, expanded…the same space where we can begin to explore new shapes and ways of moving that align with the shape of the life we desire. And, from a whole, integrated body, and all the ways it sees, senses, dreams, and moves, we can pour ourselves out into the world as art. .. A few new spaces (live and virtual) to explore the connection between sacred systems, somatic movement, and creative practice are coming over the next few months…Links in bio 🤍

A birthday reflection and wish 🌬️

I love photographing people because it’s really an opening to meet all the layers of someone as we gently uncover the deeper essence that rests beneath all the posturing and posing, which is really just the body’s way of adjusting around the discomfort of being witnessed. And yet, isn’t this what we all deeply desire? The intimacy of being seen, accepted, and loved in our naturalness…undefended, ‘imperfect’, entirely unique.

Watercolor cover art for ‘Circle 68’ on @robotkoch + @foam_and_sand ’s upcoming album — this new single featuring @ambemusic is out today Limited run prints will be available soon 🤍

Beauty, An Antidote to Extraction Full reflection on Substack, link in bio Watercolor for ‘Circle 61’ on @robotkoch + @foam_and_sand ’s new album ‘Quieter’

unsteady world, lay down, listen

When visiting Granada and Alhambra @nataliabeme pointed out that Arabic architecture and art often avoids figurative imagery in sacred contexts; geometry becomes the primary expression of beauty and meaning…the intention is to draw the mind beyond the material world into contemplation of the infinite (iow, de-center humans)...because there’s an inherent understanding that spaces program us. This has really stayed with me: what do the spaces we design and inhabit say about our inner worlds, our values, and how we aim to live? Through some of my closest people, I’ve had an opportunity to experience the timeless wisdom, beauty, truth, and vitality Arab cultures have brought forward through centuries, despite ongoing threats to flatten and erase it through war and genocide. For those of us who are not from these lands, it feels essential that alongside speaking out against violence, we also commit to deepening our understanding by seeking out voices, histories, and expressions that come directly from within these cultures. Get curious; listen to interrupt narratives that reduce complexity in service of power. Uncover unique expressions of beauty and love ~ there are many; they’ve blessed my life many times over.

Mi hermosa hermana Granada, Spain

Quieter — a new single by @foam_and_sand @robotkoch and @peiabird is out today with one of my watercolor paintings as the album art. This piece was very minimal in its creation. Maybe four or five brushstrokes and then patience and restraint.

Quieter Something @robotkoch and I both align on artistically is restraint, exploring how to convey a felt sense in the most essential way. Saying just enough; allowing the space to speak; reducing the noise so that signal can break through. I loved witnessing his new @foam_and_sand album come to life, a project that explores this deeply. It feels so needed right now, when everything is oversaturated. Maybe getting totally quiet isn’t possible or reasonable when the world is this loud. So maybe it’s about getting quieter. Reducing excess input and returning to the beauty of simplicity. When I sat down to explore the visuals, I found myself over-producing, which is often where I start. It’s still so patterned into me that it has to be hard or intense or take tons of effort for it to be “good.” It was only when I came back to curiosity and ease (literally, softened my hands and body), just seeing what happened when I combined a few colors, moved the page slowly as pigment met water, and simply wandered, that something evocative emerged. When I set the iterations out and stepped back, Robert and I gravitated toward the same ones. It’s hard to say exactly what they convey and why they stood out among the others. Something organic, simple; strange, soft encounters of color and shape. Mostly, they were the ones that made my breath deepen. And they were always the ones where I had done less. I’m really excited about this album, as it’s also part of a larger project that’s weaving together many different artists and mediums together, coming this summer. But before we go there, I highly encourage you to find time to listen to these songs with full presence, as they’re an invitation to slow down and get quieter.