Author: Regina

This week our session was in Ubud Bali. We joined at Meguna artisan food and most of the makers belong to Human Design Bali group.

A huge thank you for all the lovely makers, for Pudji, for Muning for opening her space and specially for Irma who organised our event. We had a fantastic time together, thank you!

Installation completed with 149 dolls.

52 dolls by Jakarta makers + 50 I brought from the UK on the line below.

47 by Jogja makers at Pesta Boneka Puppet Festival on the line above.

2/3 of them made in Indonesia!

The festival was over. I was putting away all the dolls knowing that they represent the makers and also their loved ones they care so much. There are daughters and sons, nieces and nephews, lost loved ones, mums, dads, grannies, friends, girlfriends, boyfriends, partners…

I got very emotional. One of the festival team was around dismounting other stuff, it helped to share my feelings with him and later Paolo’s warm hug helped a lot.

The theme of the festival this year was Seeds of Hope. Every doll is seed of hope that makers carefully sow.

I’ve been making dolls with people for over ten years. I listen to their stories. I read their comments about their experience making their dolls. It always moves me.

I am really grateful for everybody – sponsors, Papermoon Puppet theatre, staff, artists and audience – who made this amazing festival happens.

Some of the makers from the first to the last day. You can see the number of the dolls gradually increasing in the line above of the installation.

Our makers were mostly audience members but quite a few of festival’s artists joined us as well.

Some makers came to make dolls in between shows and some came more than once to finish them.

Some attended many shows and activities and came over for a bit of rest. That’s what usually happens to Dreams and a Heart in events where there’s a lot going on.

They can choose to be in silence or interact with other makers while creating their dolls. It’s a calm and meditative experience, it helps to reconnect to themselves and realise what really matters to them in the moment.

Thank you so much for all the makers at the festival, thank you for your amazing kind and loving energy, we had an amazing time together, thank you.

Dane, Anton and I gave a talk about our projects and art installations.

So glad we changed plan and instead of a formal talk in a room we did it by our installations with no microphone. It felt more natural to be by our work and talk about it.

It was a great adventure for the dolls to sleep outdoors surrounded by wild animals.

They told me the animals jumped off the wall during the night. Some of them were kind, some not so much. The magical cave Anton and Beni built was a shield that protected them. They were also lucky that the tiger and black panther had babies so they didn’t care about anything else.

The first two nights were hard for me. I gradually relaxed when I realised they were safe on their own and making new friends. I’m gradually learning to let them go.

Dreams and a Heart Art Installation at Pesta Boneka International Puppet Festival, Yogyakarta Indonesia.

The festival built for us a beautiful cave made by bambu. It was built by Anton and Beni from Papermoon Puppet Theatre team, the group that created this amazing festival.

Our cave reminded me the traditional Wayang puppet performance I watched in Yogyakarta the night before we started our workshops.

I noticed that both set designs were framed by columns of red colour, it felt so special. The photo doesn’t show but the red above is the same as the lateral columns.

And suddenly we were in a cave in Indonesia!

Unique settings. Stunning nature. Twenty five countries. Amazing people.

There were many performances also many workshops and talks running the whole day for all ages.

I run four workshops in four afternoons and enjoyed some brilliant shows in the evenings.

A huge thank you to Papermoon Puppet Theatre who worked hard to give all of us this amazing experience. We were blessed to be there.

Harmoni Perempuan have been running a series of sessions to empower women in Jakarta Indonesia. Dreams and a Heart had the privilege to run one of the sessions.

Thank you so much for all makers for the delicious time we spend together, brave women who get together every two weeks to share experiences and empower each other. Thank you Lasya for inviting me, Adel for translating the session, and Pudji who made the bridge. I am really really grateful, thank you!

Dr Karel, a lovely Indonesian cardiologist who attended our previous workshop, invited me to run a session at Rumah Singgah Lions in Jakarta last week.

It’s a Halfway House that shelters children with heart diseases and cancer. It was very emotional to work with them and their mothers. I’m really grateful for the opportunity.