Shelley Etkin

Shelley Etkin ​is a transdisciplinary artist, educator, and gardener based in Berlin, Germany with roots in the US/Turtle Island and Israel/Palestine. She works at the intersections of art and ecology, engaging with relations between bodies and lands through place-based knowledges, integrating practices from dance/somatics, herbal medicines, pedagogy, and community organising. Shelley’s bodywork and earth-care practices are dedicated to connectivity particularly with the plant world. ‘Landing‘ as a process and movement forms the grounds for her methodology. Shelley stewards the ‘Garden as Studio‘ platform for artistic research at Ponderosa, an arts centre in Brandenburg Germany, and co-facilitates the ‘Social Body Apothecary‘ with Siegmar Zacharias and Kitti Zsiga, among other long-term collaborations including ‘School of Lost Knowledge‘ with Jared Gradinger, ‘Mossbelly‘ with Angela Schubot, and ‘Witch Camp‘ with Aune Kallinen.

Shelley is a guest lecturer at the International Campus of Humboldt University Berlin and the Theater Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki. Her artistic research has been supported by Tanzpraxis Research Stipend of the Berlin Department for Culture and Europe (2020-2021), the Process Funds Fonds of Darstellende Künste (Social Body Apothecary 2022-2023), and the Research Funds of Fonds Darstellende Künste (2023). She holds an M.A. in Ecology and Contemporary Performance (Finland), a B.A. in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (USA), a Permaculture Design Certificate by Earth Activist Training (USA), and is a student of homeopathy.

sea@shelleyetkin.com