I popped down to Sydney on the weekend for the opening of this powerful exhibit by my friend and amazing artist Mo. I only started following Mo in January 20I7, after her vision for this artwork was already launched, so I'd had no idea where it all began. I read back through Mo's blog posts today because having seen the culmination at the opening, I wanted to to put it into some sort of context.
It seems to have begun with a number of to and fro conversations back in 2016 on a blog post about Rebecca Solnik's book Hope in the Dark where Mo made a comment about "looking after our beautiful broken world with kindness " This phrase pops up a few times in subsequent posts, and then the gift of an old wedding dress, Mo's growing concern for our broken world, and a sign on a building in Newtown NSW, where she lives, birthed the idea for a powerful and important message of hope and healing. Mo decided to cut the wedding dress into pieces, and put the call out for anyone interested to put their hands up to make a pennant, making their mark in some way with their hopes and dreams to heal our world. For those, like me, who were a bit slow putting their hand up, Mo called for small talismans to be made to be attached to the installation., which I'll show later.
 |
| Photo credit Mo Orkiszewski |
If you're interested, you can read more about her vision, the planning and process and how she pulled it all together here, along with posts which celebrate the arrival of the pennants and talismans.
And so it all came together, and on Sunday we gathered to celebrate this wonderful installation that saw hands, hearts and threads joined across the world.
 |
| 44 pennants from all over the world - threads and stitch connecting people and making powerful healing energy (Photo credit Fiona and Bruce Dempster) |
awe and wonder
choosing a favourite
 |
| talismans |
And speaking of talismans.........that's mine in the middle. And below are close ups of it, front and back.
Talisman - 1.5 cm ( .5 inch) square, handmade felt. It's a little pouch, and inside on two pieces of handmade paper I wrote .... I dream of a world..... and a Sanskrit prayer.
A shisha mirror for protection and reflection of the good we do. A tiny green heart is nestled in the soft wool fringing.
On the back I embroidered an Aboriginal symbol for meeting place.....for Mo's blog and this project have been a meeting of hearts, minds and intention......and the colours of purple and green symbolise the power of women joining together to help heal our world.
I can't begin to describe the wonderful feeling of seeing all the pennants, talismans and the structure to hold it all that Mo dreamed into being and created to display and anchor them to the veil and train of the old wedding dress. It was possible to stand underneath it, and feel the energy and harmony created by the thoughts and prayers stitched into the work, and feel contained and held by the soft light filtering through the fabric.
As someone else said today describing it .......what a buzz!
Congratulations to Mo.....for bringing us all along on this wonderful journey of love.
If you'd like to see more of the pennants and talismans and their maker's stories, go here to see the amazingly beautiful catalogue.
***
