Mending A Sail

“Mending A Sail” was created as part of Barebones 2020, OFFERINGS: Artists Respond to the Mourning, Grieving, and Fires on Lake Street. It is a work in progress as I am slowly mending an old sail boat sail with patches that visually interpret pieces of text from the essay "We Were Made For These Times," by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes. The sail becomes an illuminated manuscript and channels the text's argument for hope as a practice and not just a wish. This kind of hope is necessary to fuel movements and change, and often must exist alongside grief. Mending is a radical act, an act of hope. I believe that mending serves as an apt metaphor for the work that needs to be done on Lake Street, in our city, and in our world. When we mend something, we restore its usefulness by beautifying the object's scars and preserving its history. Mending is also a practice of knowing when something cannot, or should not, be fixed and it is better to tear away the old and start anew.

Photo credit : Paul Irmiter