ARTIFACTS

ARTIFACTS is a collection of work that has been created by participants in Soma Space and in-person workshops.

Here you will find collaborative pieces made in the tradition of surrealist games, drawings that illustrate our relationships with ourselves, things we need to hear said aloud, and reflections that we weave into poetry.

Somatics practices that engage our creativity are excellent tools for exploring our own internal narratives and landscapes.

Surrealist Games

Sometimes we play rounds of Cadavre Exquis, a game played amongst surrealist artists in the salons of 1920s Paris who developed it as a collaborative, unconscious creative method. Sometimes we write poems, other times we create drawings. We work blind, having only a word or the edge of an image to build from. Our results are absurd, beautiful, and purely of the moment.

November 15, 2025 by L, S, MR, MP, T, & A

The key to happiness is letting each situation be

what happens when you say something hurtful

unintentionally making matters worse by

saying this doesn't mean you can't change your

mind over matter is the path to being well

right? Because the honorary duty of a

human being vs human doing is the path to enlightenment

always be unafraid to be your true authentic self

and sometimes the lesson continues to present

until we meet to laugh, cry, dance, share, and

remember that nothing is permanent

change is, at the end of the day, fucking inevitable

November 15, 2025 by L, S, MR, MP, T, & A

Did you know you're a marvel! A beautiful

creature there ever was in the whole wide universe and

beyond the earth, sea, and sky you are

cosmic signals from the moon, stars, the

pull from deep tapping the depths of your soul

within you is a constant cycle of death and rebirth, is that

freedom? From my own

mind. There are a million choices you can make along

the way, your truth north is a journey only you

can navigate just about anything with the right

tool to understand ourselves, understand others,

to help the universe tell me life is to be lived with pure joy.

April 25, 2026 by S, T, & A

When you ask me what song I would choose, if I could only hear one,

I'd assume Acceptance of my love

Satisfaction can be deceiving. Sometimes we actually want

something else. Anything else! Climb out of that

void which feels like darkness and emptiness surrounded by

misunderstanding can be because of not really leaving

Preoccupation with reality, thinking I can grasp it. Is that

snail depicts slow

Honey sweetness, love, kindness, care, and all of the rainbows and

butterflies emerge from the dissolved goo of their former self,

messy, like a baby

spoon feed me your truths with a bit of sugar because I may find them bitter

Cadavre Exquis 2026

Cadavre Exquis 2025

2026 by T, A, & S

SHUFFLE POEMS:These arise out of personal reflection practices done in communal spaces. Each participant engages in a series of reflective practices and writes one sentence. We then weave these together into individual or collective pieces. There are many ways to read the works here, which came from reflecting on the known known, the known unknown, and the unknown unknowns in our lives.

Possibility 1- communal- The Known Known

My known knowns are physical things that I can see- like trees and butterflies

I know I love my dog

I know I love the warmth of the sun most when it is tempered by leafy branches and fluffy clouds

Possibility 2- communal- The Known Unknown

My known unknowns are things or concepts that I don't see or understand~ like the rest of the universe

I know I don't know how to do algebra

I know that I don't know what tomorrow brings and yet I approach anyway

Possibility 3- communal- The Unknown Unknown

The unknown unknowns are scary & dark to me

how long I'll live?

to fear the unknown unknown is like being afraid of my own heartbeat. I must not treat it as an ominous sign

Possibility4- one voice- 3 states of Knowing and Unknowing

I know I love the warmth of the sun most when it is tempered by leafy branches and fluffy clouds

I know that I don't know what tomorrow brings and yet I approach anyway

to fear the unknown unknown is like being afraid of my own heartbeat. I must not treat it as an ominous sign

Solo Doodle Treasure Hunt 2025

Doodle Treasure Hunt

Close your eyes and doodle aimlessly on a piece of paper. Now open your eyes and examine your drawing from every angle. Look for images in the chaos and hightlight them in a different color. Do this alone, or do it with friends and pass your creations around, each person adding a new color as they unearth the images hiding inside.

Communal/Shared Doodle Treasure Hunt 2026

Sometimes our Artifacts are just the things we need to release, or to hear, or the reminders we need in order to stay engaged, connected, and rooted.

Personal Reflections

Below is an illustration of one participant's understanding of the dorsal vagal, sympathetic, and ventral vagal heirarchy of the Autonomic Nervous System and their corresponding reflection/reminder of how to move through them when feeling stuck.

climb back up the ladder, it's the only way out

this hole is deep but the path is clear, if treacherous at times

so one finger at a time, shake yourself upward

dig your digits into the dirt

wrap your fists around the roots and climb

feel your muscles activate. and strain. and burn

feeling brings awareness. awareness brings understanding.

understanding brings choice. easy movement. an umbrella

so don't fight it, flow up

let your sweat replace your tears

a scream replace your sobs

climb until you feel the sun on your face

and your screams devolve into laughter as

you tumble onto open ground

soft grass and soft breezes

now open your eyes

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