Creation/Destruction

Last year was a hard one for me including the end of a serious relationship, the end of the NGO where I worked part time with lovely, passionate, like-minded people... actually it seemed like all of the roads I thought I was traveling along turned out to be dead ends. I felt a little lost - my soul was dry, my light was gone - I knew where I was but I had lost where I was going. I was in that winter cycle where everything is destroyed to create a space for new beginnings.

At times like that, when you are resting and nurturing, regaining strength and returning to your truest self, it is a time for questions like... what do you love the most? ...what kind of life do you want to live? ...who do you really want to be? For me, that includes family, friends, happy laughter, natural healthy living... but art and creativity have to play a big part or I'm just not whole.

I was lucky to be involved in some great outlets for creativity last year (I'll come back to some of them) but one was especially related to the creation/destruction cycle... we called it 'Art Therapy A.K.A. Demolish the Quad'. I was at Victoria University in 2010 doing a couple of Art History honours papers and started an Art and culture society up there. In collaboration with VUWSA and Studio and a bunch of arty creatives, we let the students loose on the quad with all the art supplies we could get our hands on. The space was transformed from cold, grey, lifeless concrete into a multi-coloured wonderland. This delightfully cooperative, anarchic, chaotic, creative freedom came about because the quad was due to be destroyed during upcoming renovations. Sure enough, today a giant muddy hole has been hollowed out where the quad once stood and most of our creative work was destroyed. But sometimes life is like that... a series of building up and tearing down... replacing old with new. It is that natural cycle... but strangely art seems to transcend it. People are born and die, civilisations rise and fall but ART... images, stories, objects and songs... stay with us, passing through the generations to inspire or teach us again and again.

(Thanks to Rachel Brandon and Esther page for the use of their photos below... you can see more of Rachels pics at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=10150288913930577&id=831370576&aid=554096)

And a few extra links on this event if you are interested....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45442154@N02/sets/72157625012907193/show/

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=284220&id=285779926080

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/wellington/4225717/Students-splash-out-during-quadrangles-last-days