Navigating Overwhelm

Joyful Connections - detail of work in progress

It’s been a tumultuous week. I’ve been feeling powerless and at the same time knowing I can only focus on being responsible for my own happiness. That’s hard to keep in mind when all the world seems to be trapped in an avalanche of collapse and destruction. Somedays it just feels too hard to bear.

I’ve started creating artwork about joy, the connections we individually and collectively can make to help us navigate feelings of overwhelm and despair. It’s been a slow process finding a way into the work; knowing that colour and movement can immerse me in happiness, even if it is only for a short time.

I thought of paper flags that are strung across the streets of Mexican villages, the way the doors and walls of their houses are all painted in bright colours. It gives me joy when I think of them. How to bring that into my paper artwork?

I recently learned a new technique of creating ‘necklaces’ of paper pulp by dipping string into wet paper fibres. The fibres can be coloured, but I also added some of my beautiful Sennelier ink colours to the wet paper to heighten their luminosity. When I folded some cut out paper triangles around them, they looked like bunting.

These coloured paper buntings anchored me into my creativity when I knew I was not able to go to Tasmania. I wanted to lie down in front of the logging trucks to stop them from destroying the 400 year old trees, to help protect the habitat around the endangered Tasmanian Wedge-tailed Eagles nests, also home to the Masked Owls and Swift Parrots.

The artwork stalled. I couldn’t find joy in its creation. On Tuesday I decided to do something about it. I woke early and drove for several hours to a protest vigil outside the Orara State Forest, a site which locals had hoped would be part of the Great Koala Park that has still not been ratified. Logging in this species rich forest had just begun and the trees were falling one by one as I sat by the fireside vigil listening to birds screeching out their protest.

There was nothing I could do except join others to bear witness and hold the government accountable for their continued inaction. I went home feeling that I had not achieved anything, however the next day 40 or so protesters held a peaceful walk through the forest to document the destruction. Perhaps me being there the day before had helped keep the flame of hope burning for another day.

Today I will be stitching the little triangular flags onto their paper strings. Pulling joy into my art through colour and movement. I think of the threads that connect us to each other across oceans and continents, the invisible threads enmeshing all species and plants into our planetary life force, each of our thoughts and actions like a tiny triangle strung on a coloured string. Banners of hope flying high in the midst of global overwhelm.

Coloured banners at the entrance to the Orara State Forest near Coffs Harbour, NSW