Author: Regina

This month we went to an event in Oxford called Radical Curiosity – a conversation about creativity and the arts in dangerous times. 

I usually have a feeling of uncertainty when I’m about to invite people to make dolls and meditate but I always do it, and I’ve been doing it for twelve years. 

After I invited everybody I talked to Lee about this feeling and he seemed to really understand and told me that that feeling is inevitable. He said that the possibility that something will not work – even if it is something you have done before – has to be there for it to be art. His words made me feel good, as always. 

Ana, Miranda, Atri, Clara, Alex, Dolcie, Georgia, Nicola and Lizzy came and we made 9 dolls in total. 

‘Occupy your hands with cloth and lining

 occupy your hands with people and dreams

 many dreams in each arm and leg

 many dreams in the head

 and a heart in the right place.’

‘Beautiful meditative experience. Making ‘ just because’ – time away from the ‘big’ conversations to engage and dream amongst friends.’ 

‘A mindful, creative and loving experience filled with warmth and positive vibes.’ 

’Something very concrete and very metaphorical at the same time’

‘It was a massive risk for me but I made a doll from the beginning to the end. I overcome a trauma/fobia from my childhood.’ 

‘One of the most magical experience of my life.’

I am so grateful for all maker who joined us, for Erica who invited us for such special day together and Lee who brought Open Space technology I love to organise our work. We had a warm and friendly time together, it was precious, thank you! 

‘May angels speak through my mouth. It was an afternoon of light and happiness. A very beautiful experience. Thank you Regina, now I see everything. Life is a dream, and dreams, dreams are.’

‘Loving and enlightened meeting on a Monday surrounded by sun and trees’

‘Where it touches the heart where everything happens everything that can and should happen the breathing the pulsation the dreams the filling of the body the soul the spirit that fills each one who is whole for life.’

‘I consider it a privilege to have an opportunity to come together to be in silence, breathe, talk, light our dreams, think about our dreams, handle our dreams, listen to our dreams. Being in a circle, in unity, weaving ways to continue life generates a silver lining, a breath of air. The aesthetics of the dolls, the rescued hearts, the trees, the friendships, all made this afternoon full of good energy.’

‘What a beautiful thing… congratulations!  Re, your work has always been wonderful. Since we all met (1990) you have been working directly from heart to hearts. It was always love, the awakening of illusion, that governed everything you did. This is how I perceived it, as your friend and classmate in the performing arts. You make art of love.’

‘The material that animates and moves us can be clouds, cotton candy and also dreams. It was powerful to know that dreams can be made of someone else’s rest, without a face, with hearts that beat in Freudian or, who knows, disturbing, fantastic nights. I chose a grimy skin, with an artery that ended up visible from the leg to the hip. Why is this skin grimy?From the winds that blew, other people’s breath, landscapes that were not always salubrious. I sew the grimy skin and think about the scars, about the dreams that fray, about the scars in the midst of dreams. Gratitude for the permission, from you, from the universe.’

Last January we were at Pina Contemporânea, an amazing Art Gallery in São Paulo Brazil. 

It was Oxossi’s day and for coincidence we were given a room with views to a park. Oxossi is a forest Orixá, a divine spirit of African religion the slaves brought to Brazil.  Some makers celebrate the Orixás and we were glad to be in such beautiful environment surrounded by nature. The room was in green tones and myself dressed in green clothes blending with the room and the park. It looked like a beautiful inexpected celebration to Oxossi.  

Claudia, Eda, Vera, Antonio, Karin, Solange, Lucia e Lena came and we made 8 dolls. 

We talked about recurrent and premonition dreams. We learned that an indigenous dad usually asks to his children when they wake up in the morning  ‘What did you learn tonight?’ ref to the dreams they’ve just dreamt. We also learnt that dream’s people are called ‘the enchanted’. Beautiful!  

It was a real privilege to meet my dear friends and spend such a lovely afternoon together. Your generosity moves me. Thank you so much for coming, and a special thanks to Eda who organised our beautiful room at Pina Contemporânea. I love you all! 

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.