A community artwork for peace
On 15 April 2014 at the D&D about Competition and Collaboration, Maria, Susy, Tom and Marissa put hearts into 5 dolls and we finished them all.
Give me a heart! someone said and we started.
This was the first time the dolls were given the opportunity to speak their silence into the microphone. It was great!
Thank you all
My dearest friends Claudia and Vera took the initiative to create the event Bonecos Sonhos Coração in São Paulo Brazil last Sunday 16 March 2014.
Leky, Chris, Carlos, Roney, Claudemira, Otacilio, Dedé, Rosangela, Jairo, Cris, Marina, Angelica, Danieli, Livia, Talita, Maria Cecilia, Marinalva, Claudia, Vera, Neca, Rica, Flavia, the children Gabi, Luana, Laura and Bruno came to sew the dolls and we had a very special afternoon together.
Everybody drew, cut and sewed the dolls. We stuffed them with dreams and we put hearts into them making the meditation ritual to connected with our own hearts. We sewed 39 dolls, 23 of them are finished.
When we finished our workshop we celebrated Sunday full moon gathering our dolls in a circle.
Some comments
‘I feel that you managed to invent a way to make everyone stop and do something for others in a simple and soulful way. It is the practice of generosity. It is pure Art and action. It is engendering something the world really needs. We make a doll which has dreams and a heart, we send love and hope to everyone in the world, it is well-targeted magic’
‘It is meditative, a delicate thing to do in the middle of a trampled life. What unsuspected delicacy we discover in us and in others! The silent moment of putting dreams inside the dolls and connecting our heart with the heart that will inhabit that doll. That afternoon resonated with me for a long time. It still does, thank you. It was a lovely moment, in the middle of the city, this microcosm of craziness so lacking in the energy which was in that room’
‘This is a courageous and lovely project Regina! This project is symbolic of the urgent need to expand our awareness that we are all connected by a network of light and shade, for which we are all responsible. I hope that our dreams circulate, nurture and cultivate human solidarity, with faith and love for all of us. Simple as that!’
After this afternoon I must add into my list of things we need to do to be alive, from 28/02 post,
8. Friends
I am immensely grateful to everyone.
Thank you!
Click for ‘Bonecos Sonhos Coração‘ event.
Dreams are like gravity – let’s sleep and dream.
I went on 27 February 2014 to another great D&D event-What are we really going to do about Race and Diversity in UK Theatre? with the dolls.
Six people came to help me put hearts into them and we made 7 dolls in total.
We had one to one experience most of the time.
Some comments:
‘I lost my heart…’
‘Thank you, a lovely break from intense discussions’
‘This is lovely, such a moment of rest, relaxation, focus and happiness’
The session inspired me to write down a list of things we need to do to be alive. I’ll write in a particular order where the first thing is the most important and so on
1. Breath
2. Sleep-Dream
3. Wake up
4. Walk
5. Drink
6. Eat
7. Enjoy
We don’t need to remember our dreams, eventually it might be useful but it is not necessary. We will dream anyway. It is like the gravity, we do not struggle to be here, we just are. When we dream and we wake up we know where to go and how to feed ourselves at any level. We enjoy and our heart is happy. This is the moment to change what need to be changed, so let’s sleep.
I am extremely grateful to the event Devoted and Disgruntled 9 that happened in the last weekend of January 2014 in London. It was the first time I had the opportunity to really feel and confirm my vision, to experience the dimension of the 700 dolls project in the world. The dolls have been given amazing moments by this incredible D&D space. They have supported the project since the very beginning giving me real love to keep going. Thank you!
I called a session suggesting we could reach the target of 63 dolls which represents 9% of them to celebrate D&D 9.
We put the heart into each doll, we had our quiet moment feeling our own hearts beating, we completed their legs with dreams and most of us sewed their legs.
We reached the target of 63 dolls.
I felt like I was in paradise having such an amount of generous people helping me to make the dolls.
We were in another space and time, with everybody but invisible. I could feel the density of this other world. We were supporting the entire group with this ‘love machine’ during 4 hours non stop. Real, concrete, practical love, simple and profound love that transforms us in our very centre.
Some comments:
‘I found out these dreams on the floor’
‘I made three dolls, one for me, one for my mother who died last October and one for my dad who died 10 years ago. I passed on their love, hope and generosity to be with the dolls wherever they go. I am so thankful for this opportunity to spread peace to myself and to the world’
‘I made 12 dolls for my father’s freedom because his freedom depends on 12 people’
‘ A real moment of stillness and focus on a shared humanity, for me a very personal experience which helped with some present difficulties, wonderful’
‘Provided space and a moment of calm during a hectic weekend’
‘I felt a sense of peace and gratitude. I had not realized I needed the quiet. Nor did I realized how I would enjoy, in that moment, connecting to a sense of global and, indeed, the whimsical. One small act is what I have to give’
‘Making my doll was very calming and helped me check back into myself. The quiet, the concentration, knowing that you are helping in a little and large way. It felt beautiful. Feeling the rhythm of the movement and the accomplishment. It was lovely, just lovely’
‘I liked to sew the dreams into the leg. It helped me focus and concentrate after a long day of discussions and talking’
‘Thank you for bringing the dolls at D&D. It was a lively moment for me when I sat down and had the opportunity to breath, close my eyes and feel my own heart beating. After two days of work and talks, it felt peaceful to have a moment of silence and recollection. I sewed two dolls, and it was special. Very poetic, yet simple. I wish you good luck with this beautiful project’
‘Thank you. Doing my bit touched my heart more than anything in the last days, let’s make 7 000 000 000’
Thank you so much everyone!
We spent last weekend at York Hall in Bethnal Green London at D&D8 talking about what we are going to do about theatre and the performing arts.
Ellis, Hugh, Mandy Amelia, Aimee and other people I don’t remember their names came this weekend to talk about the project. First time people spontaneously wanted to help me to make dolls. There is a video Phelim recorded some of us making them, it’s on this website on Themes at the video section.
We talked about making 700 dolls . There are already 300. They are all filled with dreams that come from our old pillows. They also have a heart. Dreams and a Heart. Write down on your hand ‘ bring the pillow’. Ellis brought me his pillows next day, thank you!
I added some empty dolls lying down on the floor at the middle of the big circle. I said ‘Without dreams and a heart we can’t stand up’.
Please email me if you want to donate your own pillow or your family/friends pillows. There are still 400 dolls to be made so I need lots of dreams to stuff them. Thank you!
That’s the first time I talked about the project with other people.
Alan Lyddiard, Angela Clerkin, Sarah Samson and Chris Grady came to the session.
We talked about the theory of quantum physics and why I think the project has to do with it. This theory says that through the mind there is an instantaneous communication. The limits imposed on material bodies through their physical separation are not there for the mind. So making these dolls here in the UK will allow someone in any place on the planet to be touched by the intentions of who is making them. All positive thoughts and feelings will go to every person through this process. Love knows its own way. It will know where to go in the planet. You can just imagine the doll as the representation of humankind. The moment you feel your own heart beating, you will connect with life and in this process you are sending love to our partners on the Earth.
We talked about making an art installation and probably the final stage will be to deliver the dolls around the world.
Alan gave me the idea to ask people here at D&D to help with the 70 first dolls. I have already made 7. Then we can carry on making them until we reach 700 and 7000 and 70000 and so on until we reach 7 billion dolls. At this point each one of us on the planet will be represented by a doll made with love.
I am sure this will bring peace for all of us and for all living creatures on the planet.
We will explain how to make the doll and people can make as many dolls as they want and as soon as they finish them they can post them to my address. I understood we don’t need a base right now as we will be working from home.
I’ll bring the 7 dolls I made on Monday morning to show people how they look like.
Here we are starting a radical action to save our planet and ourselves.
