Medium: Wool and ceramic shoe.
This is the nest I made for my shoe (from the global shoe project) if your not familiar with the project see my posts about it below :) and for a pic of just the shoe check out my photo a day blog on the list.
This is probably the most personaly moving piece of art I have ever created. I chose a nest because 1) I am obsessed with them! and 2) because of what they symbolise. Warmth, love, security, life, hope, home, families...you get the idea. This nest will be auctioned off by Stella to raise funds for children affected by war and this SINGLE shoe represents 6000 children who have been hurt or permanently maimed by war over a decade. Stella made 1001 shoes. Wow. That speaks for itself! (Stats based on unicef figures the decade begining in 1985.)
This nest speaks to me on so many levels, for me it shows what it should be like for children. It expresses my desire to protect and love them. To provide a place of security or in the least a glimmer of hope. Our homes (the world) should be a place of warmth, love, security and hope. It should be a place of nuture and life. Sadly it's not for so many innocent children hence the broken and folded child size shoe as the egg.
On the other side this could be symbolic of a child (the egg/shoe) being loved and cared for (the nest) a sign of hope that in a world that can be very ugly that things will get better, love will prevail. Amen to that I say!
I guess it will mean many things to many different people depending on our own life experiences but that is my interuptation of it. What's yours? Please share!
NB: I couldn't use real sticks, feathers and leaves because of customs restrictions :)
2 comments:
A moving piece. Particularly so because the child's shoe is so obviously damaged but somebody has taken the care to make a lovely nest for it, so symbolic in that way. I like the way the nest is obviously soft and fluffy, and so comfortable, but also the way it is decorated with colours. It reminds me of the colourful mobiles I had on the side of my baby's cots to give them a stimulating environment if they had just woken up so they were hopefully both safe and stimulated! Thank you for highlighting the work of this charity.
I am very moved by your gesture and art, not only as an aspiring artist but mainly, as a war survivor. I truly believe that we need to focus all our energy and creativity to help those innocent vitims, especially the children. You have my utmost respect and admiration, my dear friend. If the project is still going on, I will try to participate. Thank you for sharing your art and integrity with all of us.
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