THE HEALING PROJECT
MISSION
The Healing Project is a grassroots
organization that uses art in public arenas to promote peace and transform
feelings of immobilization in the wake of September 11. Our goal is to
challenge isolationism and strive to improve the climate of our communities
by stimulating public participation in the art making process.
On September 14th
the Healing Project was created by a Bay Area artist as a memorial to the
events of September 11th,
2001. At its center is a sculpture representing the World Trade Towers. The initial goal
of the Healing Project was to completely embrace this representation of the
WTC with 6,000,000 origami cranes, displacing some of our memories of death
and fear and destruction with the colors of life and hope and peace that
these delicate birds reflect. By memorializing, respecting and remembering
what happened on that day, we hope to help in some way to prevent a
reoccurrence by promoting peaceful responses.
Thousands, if not millions of people worldwide fold origami cranes
everyday. Folding cranes is not new. An individual folding a thousand
cranes and selflessly contributing them to a shrine or memorial is not new.
School children often fold them after reading a book about Sadako --- a
young girl from Hiroshima, Japan who developed leukemia
as a
result of radiation exposure.
What is new is that we Americans have experienced a national tragedy
that is so enormous that we are folding cranes in record number to expose
our feelings of sadness and hope and to escape a sense of immobilization.
In the weeks following September 11th, we have expressed our horror and we
have expressed our pain. We have expressed our need and our generosity. We
have expressed our rage and our wrath. We have
expressed our wisdom and we have expressed our courage.
Now, let's express our love!
9/11 Remembrance Vigil+Art Show
Remember, Create, Share, Heal
Activities from 10-9 at Aurobora
Press+Gallery 147 Natoma (behind the
SF MOMA)
This event is
housed in a gallery that was an old firehouse, constructed from bricks
salvaged after the 1906 earthquake. It is a tangible reminder that
something useful can be retained from tragedy.
E V E N T P U R P O S E
9/11/2003 will bring with it the opportunity for reflection. Because
the events of two years ago have affected us in many lingering ways. For
some, September 11 2001 and its aftermath have brought an increase in
tolerance, for others a decrease, for some it reinforced what they already
felt about the future, but for others it opened a new window to look out
of.
Many simply want to move on. Yet even moving forward requires
looking back. Art can help us remember with its ability to abstract; it can
touch a place in us that allows complicated and powerful emotions to come
to the surface in a manageable and meaningful way. And images, without
boundaries imposed by language, have the ability to reach across the lines
that often divide us.
E V E N T A C
T I V I T Y
From 10am-8pm the public
will be invited to view art and bring photos of remembered ones, or flowers
and messages, and will be free to join ongoing origami or lantern making
workshops. At 8pm sharp, a walk to the Martin Luther King Memorial Fountain
will depart from the gallery. Participants will carry paper lanterns to the
fountain, walk around it, and pause for a moment of silent meditation or
reflection, then return to the gallery with their lanterns. All lanterns
and cranes will be added to the WTCHP collection.
Please email vigil@wtchealingproject.org to learn more or to
volunteer
WTC Healing Project
is a 501c3 nonprofit via it’s fiscal sponsor the Intersection for the
Arts in SF.
This event is intended
for anyone whose life has been affected by 9/11, or who has experienced the
violent death of a loved one, or any type of violence. We each embody the
ability to make a difference and to help create safer communities and a
safer World. Express yourself by encouraging your hopes, and not your
fears.
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