17/08/2022
The Mending Wall Community Interview - extract used with permission.
"For me the experience of COVID was a breaking down of systems or a way of life. I'm thinking kind of norms - the kind of norm of going to work or school everyday. Which gave me a sense of feeling secure and a feeling of knowing or normalcy - it’s known to me, it’s familiar.
With the onset of COVID I felt like my entire experience of ‘work’ - vocation was completely smashed to pieces.
Life became so complex during isolation and all of the ordinary day to day things, like work, school, neighbours and simple things like grocery shopping had to be done completely differently. It felt like the little day to day things that I took for granted lay in pieces all over the floor. My life felt like a mess! I had no idea what the future held. And it was my job to work it all out"
As I listened and recorded this story, I got an impression of a favorite piece of china, something loved and used often. Like a cup, used for tea with family, friends or just by oneself . And that during COVID it had fallen to the floor and shattered. And the shattering left everyone with a feeling of shock and sadness and not only that, a decision needed to be made about the future of the cup.
As I thought about the experience shared in this interview, I was reminded of the Japanese art form Kintsugi - the golden repair - as a philosophy it treats breakage and repair as part of the history of an object and not something to disguise.
In response to this story I made a very rough sketch for a community arts project that people could do at home. It's not as glamours as Kintsugi. But I found it a really interesting process, through art making I could explore my feelings about breakage and how I can choose to repair or to let something go.
If you would like an instruction sheet pls DM me.
You’ll need:
PAPER: this could be as simple as old photocopy paper, paper bills (if you still get them) or magazines.
GOLD PAINT OR A YELLOW MARKER OR PENCIL - could be kids paints or a yellow coloured pencil.
GLUE - glue stick
When you're ready, think about some key words that describe feelings about breakage and repair and don't filter anything -there are no right answers. Frustration, sad, loss, shock, regret, numb.
Next write the words down on the paper and cut them out.
On the blank side of another piece of paper draw a bowl
Paste your cut out words all over your bowl
Take care with your pasting. Try to feel, visualize or imagine this is something precious as you paste your words all over your bowl.
Next using your yellow or gold pencil or paint. Colour in the spaces in between your words.
You may like to ask yourself, what would it take to feel a sense of repair or how can I let go of the past?
As you colour the gold you may like to think of the colour as bringing a sense of peace, a sense of connection and a sense of repair.
When your image feels complete to you, you could sit quietly for a moment or journal about your experience.
If you want to you could pop your image somewhere as a reminder of this process.
