About the 2019 Healing Arts Happening

Description

On December 20th, we hosted an art and musical reception with Puravegan Cafe.

On December 21st, We began at the Mary Meachum Crossing to erect a place based fiber installation. We proceeded to Eads Bridge carrying the fiber based collage. Participants started at the riverfront on the Illinois side of the river. Beginning on the west side of the river, participants traveled east, intending unified healing energy throughout the region. The fiber art reached one third of a mile in length, beginning on the Missouri side of the river and ending the procession in Illinois.

For three days thereafter, a group of healers held space in the midst of a healing themed exhibition. The public was invited to meditate, relax and receive services.

Healing the Blues is a multidimensional attempt at tackling the "Winter Blues." The term "winter blues" is known as seasonal affective disorder. It is strongly studied in the mental health profession and is commonly discussed in the public, community and family culture.

The American "Blues" culture in music is rooted in the Delta of the Mississippi. The Mississippi River is the connector of Saint Louis and the rest of the American South. What would happen if we sent the healing intention to the river, across the river and down the river?

“It is one week before I attempt this massive project. At this point, I am diving deep into focused creation to get all of the fabric sewn up. I am sure I will need help sewing and I am still collecting donations of blue fabric.” -Dail Chambers

Why would I decide to do this now?

The winter solstice is the longest night of the year. From the moment of the solstice we begin to gain sunlight, preparing for the spring and warming the earth.

The metaphor of this cycle is to always find the light. Beginning the project at 9 in the morning, is symbolic. Nine in numerology is the highest level of change. At nine am, the daylight is out, and it is in preparation for the long night ahead.

In the night, we dream, we have nightmares, we work with our inner thoughts. So many people relate to the unknown mysteries of the universe, at night.

2019 is ending at the year 2020 is around the corner. It is a great time to work on collective trauma. The Mississippi River carries painful stories of death, chaos and pollution. We rely on the body of water. A visual “cleansing” is an attempt to merge reiki, history, sound therapy and installation art into a time specific happening.

What is the historical context of this work?

I imagine that this will be my formal practice, for awhile. To create with the land is something that I have been inspired to do as a child. I am so thankful for the mound building native people of the Americas. I am enchanted by the landscape of Mt. Kilimanjaro and how the earth’s natural poetic can be enhanced by temporal gestures.

In Reiki, there are hand symbols that enhance the healing experience. The gestures form a conduit of energy flow that can be focused to another. Translating this aspect of the Reiki to my art practice has opened up a larger conversation.

The American Blues, in music, began in Mississippi and New Orleans and spread up and down the Mississippi River. Blues narratives are filled with sorrow of the people. It tells the story of heartbreak, fear and struggle. To heal an aspect of the blues, is to include joy. In the blues culture, the joy is intrinsically combined with the pain and to dance, moan and play from your soul is a cleansing act. Adding blues elements throughout the soundscape of the experience, grounds the project in a musical theory dialogue.

The Mississippi River carries the bodies of enslaved Africans, poor migrant works and most importantly the blood of native people. All of this pain must be addressed. How has the landscape been shaped by trauma?

One way that the landscape has been shifted in industry and development is by erecting the Eads bridge. Although the Eads bridge is celebrated for being the first of its type, it came at the sacrifice of people’s lives. The same injustices that are in the history of Eads bridge is also in the social fabric of both cities. With Saint Louis and East Saint Louis being so close to one another, we are related deeply. How can this visual gesture become a symbol of unification?

Photography by Aaron McMullin and Dail Chambers