PrAyER fLaGS To tHe TeMpLe

(The flags at home before there journey)

(My flag made for Father who died when I was 25. Its been really powerful to share my grief over him out in the open.

I have spent along time keeping it bottled up and in a closet)

(Some chose to work in other formats than flags, I wasn't sure how I would pull all the different pieces together,

but I trusted in the process and they came together beautifully check out end pictures)

To celebrate my 38th birthday, I invited my chosen family to come eat, drink, and make art if they felt so inclined. I had a very specific intent and place in mind for the art. The temple at Burningman. Two years ago I went to Burningman for the first time and the most powerful part for me was the Temple of Forgiveness by David Best, a most amazing artist of our time if your not familiar please check out his work. This is a beautiful video of him speaking about his temples. (Warning a kleenex may be needed)

For me the temple was a sacred place not attached to any specific religious path, but wide open and inclusive for all present on the playa. This was not a temple that you needed to put on your best dress to visit, or to speak in whispers. It was a temple of the people. David design and orchestrated this beautiful vehicle and then turned it over to the community, who in turn came to write on the walls, to leave their sorrows, their hopes, their fears, their wishes, and their wisdom. Then at the end of the week to gather together all 40,000 people and witness the burning and release of all those sorrows, hopes, prayers, fears, and wisdom into the universe. Definitely one of the most powerful experiences of my life. I left knowing that I wanted to contribute to the temple the next time I returned to the playa.

Now not everyone is up for the experience that is Burningman, 102 degrees in the day, white out dust storms, constant noise, and a complete abandonment of what we think of "normal" society. But everyone has sorrows, wishes, grief, prayers, wisdom that they would like to release. So I created a space and an opportunity for my chosen family to create art for the temple. It became my job to hold there stories and shepard them to the desert, hang them with love and tenderness, cry over them, and then witness their release into the flame. My experiences at the temple are hard to contain within words, and words are not my first language. So I leave you with more pictures...