Orly Faya

My name is Orly and I grew up in Sydney, with a heritage that stretches to Eastern Europe, Scotland and Israel. I left Aussie shores as fast as I could at the age of 18, travelled extensively before I completed a BA in anthropology at Macquarie university in 2006 and have spent the majority of the last 18 years living in various corners of this beautiful earth and learning about the different people of the world.

I have always been a creative, whether it be with colours, or words or dance... I drew and painted since I was little, it was always the most obvious thing for me to do to become calm and centred.

There was a big break in my life, when I delved deep into the academics of law and psychology and anthropology, only to discover that my connection to my true sense of inner peace was being jeopardised. I learnt that painting would keep me connected and that the bottom line of success was going to measured through my personal sense of wholeness and happiness only.

My body painting journey began a decade ago, and the body of work from my last 7 years of work has focused primarily on painting people into the world, and stems from one of the most primal lessons that I have ‘remembered’ over the years - Simply, that we humans originate from the earth, are completely interconnected to the biosphere, and will return to the earth when we die, as with all things.

The Art.
The intention of these artworks is to remind humanity of the basic fact that we came from the earth, are of the earth, and will go back to earth. Somehow we forgot, and in this oversight, we have separated from our source and forgotten to live simply in appreciation for the abundance we have here right now. It is all too common that we fall into sensations of dissatisfaction, wanting more and more, counting our "achievements" and measuring success by grand accumulations rather than the presence of our breathe. Our own magic of creation evades us as we live through a dialogue of scientific measurements based on physical reality. The fact that our breathe cannot be seen and is the foundation of life, undermines this logic and questions societies entire narrative of reality. I encourage humanity to question our dialogues, question the happenings of today and step in the direction of reuniting with our source, the earth, each other and our own highest self. This is for our survival.

Travelling Life
I began travelling at 18 years young, half my life ago. I have lived extensively in India, Israel, Asia and the Americas, North, South and Central. Every experience that I have had has contributed to my understanding of our human condition and connection/ disconnetion to the earth and the significance of returning to a place of gratitude, appreciation and presence.

Painting People into the World
What Happened - The short story
A relationship breakup divinely lead to a career breakthrough in which I discovered my intuition for camouflage body painting. The depression that followed had me dive deep with my creative process, in which I painted countess people in various backgrounds. Upon seeing an amazing landscape the vision of painting people into the world came to me, the metaphor struck me deeply. I decided to head to Peru to work with a shaman to heal my broken heart and whatever else might have been ‘broken’ inside me, and had a profound experience that imbued me with a power and passion to paint people into the world. Since then I created the Gaia Series which has been exhibited all over the world and continue to create personalised therapeutic art immersion sessions with people all over the world.

Therapeutic Art
Three levels of Experiential healing that occurs through this physical and metaphysical process

1. The Experience of Being Painted
The energetic exchange between the painter and the paintee.
Intention is the essence of healing and creating. It is how we create it with our intention that allows For transformation. I ask each person what they want to create by being painted into the world, for themselves, what part of the earth they are merging with do they relate to or want to embody. Through these conversations I am guided with my intentions, and I paint it though each brushstroke blessings as I go.

2. Being Witnessed disappearing LIVE. The holder of space and live observer/friend present/assistant.
I have learnt much about what it means to hold space through these pieces. When we are seen, transformation multiplies, and we effortlessly step into that which we are seen to be. This goes for everything, positive and negatively, out energetic relationships, how we see one another, is what has each other BE who we are. So too, when someone who holds space physically SEES this transformation occur, he/ she simultaneously experiences the merging of time space reality. Magic occurs.

3. The Science The final artwork, received by the whole world and the paintees continues resonance with true self beyind the self.
In psychology / biology I learnt about how our brain will simulate the exact same responses from our imagination of an event than from the actual event. For example, when someone describes the gory details of someone's misfortune to you and you cringe... Your brain lights up in those same places as the person who actually had the misfortune... For that moment, we experience a sensation of being one. When people see this work, there is a deep resonance, an ancient remembrance of our history, and the reality of humanities inherent connection to Mother Earth. The image is received through the eyes and received in a specific reptilian part of the brain which lights up in recognition of deep primal knowing. This is the third level of healing, the after effect, the mass effect, and my intended purpose. To remind and re-member humanity as children of the earth.

The Sacred feminine As a woman, the state of women in the world has always been a central issue. My background in law and anthropology presented me with the facts, a bleak perspective of women's status in the world I have always been drawn to making an impact, to speaking up and being heard. I have learnt along the way that we need not be attached to making a difference.... for it is in the integrity of our life that we manifest change in the world, as a reflection of ourselves. In transforming our relationship to the sacred feminine and sexuality, I paint naked bodies into the world. Nudity, our natural state, has become perverse, lead by the religious narrative of Adam and Eve / Adam and Lilleth. The issues around sexuality and women in this world are by far the greatest fundamental issues of all the problems that exist and parallel with human’s disrespect for the mother earth. The holiness of a women’s sexuality has been perverted over the ages and today I feel compelled to continue to show the body beautiful through my work, with the intention that ART be the light of transformation in our world.

Merging with the Earth Indigenous Initiate Merging with the Earth: Australia is a series of artistic collaborations between artist Orly Faya and Indigenous people and communities from around the world. It is an ongoing long term project and can be found at www.emergingearthpeople.com

Today
Eight years on, my offerings have transformed into a fusion of spiritual mentorship with Body Art, facilitating deep shamanic healing experiences for everyday people from all walks of life. My clients come from all over the world and my following deepens and expands day by day. I am a practising creative enterprise mentor and coach for leaders in the creative activist community, with a strong focus on presence in practice rather than goal oriented processes. My vision is to shift the emphasis from capitalism/consumerism to collaboration/creativity with inner fulfilment being recognised as life’s true measure of success. I am currently working on a secret series, that is designed to shift perceptions and expand consciousness to support the awakening of humanity in this new world. My craft is alive with change and transformation, as I am.