6 rays, led by hands of manifestation, made up of seeds, perhaps seeds of sorrow, impact the Earth resulting in a  Heron/Crane, with transformed tail feathers, taking flight.

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The elements of this image were given to me in late 2018.  I couldn't tell if the rays were seed or some kind of water drop, like a tear or other fluid.  At the time I simply called it Crane but did not understand its significance.  It was requiring one more element that I was only stumbled upon in March of 2020, a treatment for the cloth with an image of the Earth which backs the luterose which would make it translucent.  We were then only really becoming aware of the pandemic that would transform all of our lives as well as the life of the planet and her inhabitants.  I'm thinking of the clearing of the skies over Wuhan and Rome and the return of the dolphins to the Venice canals, which hadn't been seen in 60 years.

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In April, prior to the suspension of all gatherings and the beginning of months of isolation, a group of 6 chanters , including myself,  gathered on a Friday evening in my studio gallery.  As we were chanting the words from Shir Hama'alot ( Song of the Ascents)  "those who sow with tears..." 

My eyes sought out this image. I felt a flooding of understanding.

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There is a ritual rite performed in Japan on the 2nd Sunday of April every year for the last 1,000 years.  It is called Shirasagi No Mai -   Dance of the White Heron.  Its purpose is to drive out the plague and purify the spirits on their passage to the next world.   Within the symbolic language of that culture, white herons and white cranes appear to be interchangeable.  Mythically,  it is the white crane who brought grains of rice and initiated its farming.  (see http://photojapan.karigrohn.com/shirasagi/shirasagi%20no%20mai.htm)

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The very nature of symbolic language is multidimensional, expressing a spectrum of meanings. New information has been brought to my attention regarding the photon belt  through which the Earth is now passing, which only occurs every ~12,000 years with its highly charged gamma ray/neutrino light (see Pam Gregory's beautifully simplified explanation). I can't but note its clear correlation to the symbolic language expressed here. I have, therefore renamed this illumination Transformation.  

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Acid-etched copper with fretwork , repousse', ink oxides; fretwork backed in cotton fabric printed with blue photographic image of Earth made translucent with blonde unwaxed shellac and denatured alcohol; backed in birch plywood.

23.25" x  23.5"

$3000

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