Written by Veronika

Art can be a healing way to deal with life changes

In the colour garden of familiafeliz a pile of cañas was transformed into a giant anatomic heart in the last two weeks. Hundreds of triangles and thousand of knots were needed to keep the art installation together.

The art installation wasn’t built to last for long.

For film maker and artist Arlo Laibowitz the process of building the installation was part of letting go of several other projects at once.

Sometimes life takes another turn, which one didn’t have planned. To adjust, one needs to let go of the old plan to be open for new things to come.

Arlo chose burning an anatomical heart made out of cañas (a sort of bamboo growing here in Spain) as his way of letting go and making himself open for new things to come.

In the early morning with the rise of the sun, the anatomical heart was burned. The cleaning process and this way of letting go is best known in the burning man festival in the US. In the colour garden of familiafeliz 15 people took place in the cleaning process and watch the installation to be burned.

All participants of the burning had the opportunity to let go of something in their life, in the year 2018 and get open for the new year 2019 to come. By hanging a triangle or creating a little version of what Arlo did in a bigger scale, the visitors were also part of the process.

And by saying goodbye to plans and projects and welcoming the turn of life, the installation was lit.

By the burning of the fire and the bursting of the flames, one let go of the old and got open for the new.