Photographer’s ‘Native’ Expressions

When photographer Jerry Burchfield speaks of green men, he’s not referring to extraterrestrials on the mercurial Red Planet.

In “Native: Return of the Green Man,” Burchfield draws attention to Earth and our connection to the beautiful, blue-green planet. The single engagement will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Laguna Art Museum.

Written by Burchfield, the performance deals with human progress, materialism and change and is held in conjunction with his photo exhibit, “Habitat,” on display at the museum through July 9.

Although Burchfield is known best for his photographs, he believes other modes of expression are necessary to make a point.

“A performance piece is a way to express ideas and feelings on levels that I can’t express on paper with my photography,” said Burchfield, 52, of Irvine. “It’s different in terms of energy and activity.”

Burchfield will portray the Green Man, a centuries-old mythological character who is nature’s guardian, a cosmic traveler and a great revealer of the mysteries of the universe.

The Green Man connects humanity with nature and is a symbolic figure in many cultures throughout the world. His image was seen at Gothic cathedrals during the Middle Ages and still pops up today--consider the Jolly Green Giant.

Dressed Medieval-style, in dark robes with painted faces, Burchfield and four other performers will choreograph their movements around a photo installation called “Native.”

It’s an experimental work in which Burchfield uses a three-month longtime exposure to create photographic images. Under a circular glass platform, he has placed parts of native plants such as prickly pear, sycamore, oak and elderberries on light-sensitive paper. The extended exposure creates imprints on the photographic paper.

“I’m going to remove the plants during the performance so people can see the fossilization that happens,” Burchfield said. A month later the piece will go through another change in which the impression turns black, symbolizing the cycle of life and death.

The Green Man performance is about 30 minutes with dialogue, amplified nature sounds including his heartbeat, chanting and other human-related sounds.

Burchfield started to incorporate performance shows with his photography in April 1990.

The Green Man has manifested himself in several of Burchfield’s previous works, including “The Tell,” (1989) a 600-foot-long photographic mural created in protest of the building of the San Joaquin Hills toll road. Burchfield lived in Laguna from 1971 to 1983 before moving to Irvine and has spent 36 years photographing canyons.

The last Burchfield performance piece that involved the Green Man was a collaboration with longtime friend Mark Chamberlain at the BC Space gallery in December 1999. The piece, timed with the winter solstice, was called “Into Grace Under Fire.”

That piece included a tree-lighting ceremony and an oak tree dangling over a grave. The piece alludes to a previous work the two friends collaborated on called the “Witness Box” in 1995, again protesting the toll road. Burchfield planted an oak sapling, which he later found damaged by bulldozers.

He retrieved the oak tree, which is the symbol of the Green Man, and the piece became a precursor to his work.

“Jerry is invoking the spirit of the Green Man to shed some light on what we’re doing with nature in the canyon,” said Chamberlain, owner of BC Space in Laguna Beach.

“We need this spiritual link with the land,” Chamberlain, 57, said. “The Green Man reminds us that we are all cosmic travelers on a cosmic spaceship and whatever reverence we can give to the planet is in our benefit. It’s telling us, ‘Wake up!’ ”

Those who have watched Burchfield know that his performance pieces can be stunning and provocative.

“It’s time for us to reconsider what progress is,” Burchfield said. “It’s not us versus nature. We need to think about the long-term effects of our decisions. We need to be more thoughtful of our relationship to nature.”

“Native: Return of the Green Man” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach. “Habitat” continues through July 9. Admission: $5; $4 for students; free for children younger than 12. Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Call: (949) 494-8971.