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Prayer Flags Around the World

Artists from around the world made art on cloth to hang together like Tibetan prayer flags. The pieces were first hung at the Grafton Peace Pagoda in Grafton, NY in August 2008, for the annual Hiroshima memorial prayer ceremony. The pieces will then travel to other ceremonies and exhibitions in the United States and participating artists’ countries as a symbol of peace around the world. Flags continue to arrive. As they travel, artists are invited to join and the Prayer Flags will continue on their own.

This project was inspired by a ceremony I initiated during the 2006 D. Fleiss Residency/Symposia in Carei, Romania on Hiroshima Day 2006. This was during the Lebanon War using two paintings by Talal Moualla, who received daily phone calls from his home about the devastation. There were artists from Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Japan, France, USA, Hungary, Ukraine, Romania, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Thailand, UAE, Poland and more. It was inspiring to create art with artists from around the world in a spirit of peace and harmony. This is a continuation of that experience.

with deep gratitude to all of the participating artists whose prayers go out for peace,
with palms together,
Thomas Matsuda

WEBSITE: http://prayerflags.livepepper.com/
Created by Laurette Wittner

TibetanPrayerFlags

Tibetan Prayer Flags

Romania

Fleiss Symposia, Prayer Ceremony on the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima 8/6/06 Carei, Romania

Grafton

Grafton Peace Pagoda. Hiroshima Day Cermony with Prayer Flags. August 2008 http://www.dharmawalk.org/grafton06/grafton06.htm
Grafton, NY USA

GraftonAnniversayFlags

Grafton Peace Pagoda. Anniversary Cermony with Prayer Flags. October 4, 2008. Grafton, NY USA

LeverettFlags

Leverett Peace Pagoda. Anniversary Cermony with Prayer Flags. October 5, 2008. Leverett, MA USA



MWCC2     MWCC1
Mount Wachusett Community College. March 11, 2009. Gardner, MA USA

Hampden1     Hampden2

Prayer and Sound Flags Exhibition, Emigrant Women Installation by D. Fleiss.
 Hampden Gallery. University of Massachusetts. April 1, 2009. Amherst, MA USA

                                               PARTICIPATING ARTISTS
Alyce Santoro                           USA http://www.alycesantoro.com
Andra Samelson                       USA http://www.andrasamelson.com/projects.html
Aram Chaled Res                     France/Syria
Bibi Stroia                                 Romania http://www.stroiaart.rdslink.ro/aa.html
Caroline Jourdan                      France
Dang Anh Tuan                        Vietnam
Dorothea Fleiss                        Germany/Romania http://www.dorothea-fleiss.com
Elisabeth Ochsenfeld                Germany http://www.elisabeth-ochsenfeld.com
Fatyol Zoltan                             Hungary http://www.fatyolzoltan.uw.hu
Hakim Ghazali                          Morocco/France http://www.minculture.gov.ma/fr/hakimghazali.htm
Krijnie Beyen                            Netherlands http://www.krijniebeyen.nl
Laurette Wittner                        France
Linda Gordon                            UK http://www.lindagordon.org.uk
Mary Sherman                          USA http://transculturalexchange.org/marysherman/
Mohammad Abou El Naga        Egypt http://www.abuelnaga.com
Padungsak Kochsomrong        Thailand
Silvia Poloto                              Brazil/USA http://www.poloto.com
Stéphanie Devico                      Morocco/Paris http://www.histoiredunevie.com/feder_s_devico
Talal Moualla                             UAE http://www.geocities.com/moualla_art/index.html
Thaier Helal                               UAE/Syria http://www.thh.8m.com/
Thomas Matsuda                      USA http://www.tmatsuda.com
Tomomi Shimizu                       Japan http://www.wooloo.org/tomo/
Vasile Tolan                               Romania http://tolan.autoportret.ro/ 
Yoshiki Takata                           Japan http://jp.cyworld.com/tokiotakataka           

Not arrived:
Apostolos Kotoulas                  Greece
Bibi Stroia                                 Romania http://www.stroiaart.rdslink.ro/aa.html
Erich Paproth                           Germany http://www.erichpaproth.de
Georgia Grigoriadou                Greece
Krzysztof Bojarczuk                 Polandhttp://www.artmajeur.com/?go=user_pages/display_all&login=boyar
Lyudmila Dakhova                   Ukraine http://www.lindagordon.org.uk
Mohamed Quraish                   Iraq
Sarantis Gagas                        Greece
Spiros Kokkinos                       Greece
Sylvia Reiser                            Germany

New:
Abdalraheem Alarjan
Abduladeim Aldhamen - Saudi Arabia
Ahmad Al Ahmadi - Saudi Arabia
Ahmad Farid - Egypt
Ahmed Al Bakry - Saudi Arabia
Ahmed Ozman Ahmed - Sudan
Arua Al Jundi - Syria
Asmaa Elnawawy - Egypt
Colin G Reaney - Australia
Deema Hatahet - Syria
Eslam Ibrahim - Egypt
Hakim Khaldoun - Syria
Hala Al Hedeithy
Hanan Alfaisal - Saudi Arabia
Islam Kamil - Sudan
Issa Zaidan Syria
Isak BerbicKaree Dahl - Australia
Karen Goodwin Legg
Khalid Abdulla Merghani Sudan
Margarita Radeva Greece
Mohamad Hamdan - Syria
Mohamed Taha - Kuwait
Mohammed Bahrawi - Saudi Arabia
Nada Abdulrahman
Najlaa Felemban - Saudi Arabia
Najwa Korban - Saudi Arabia
Noor Khuraidah- Saudi Arabia
Omer Abdul Khaliq Saeed - Sudan/ UAE
Rachel Chapman
Rahma Awad Sudan/ Holland
Reem Omar - Sudan
Samier Abdel-Kader - Egypt
Sara Abu Abdallah
Shady Abdel Rahman - Egypt
Shaikha Al Mazrou
Sofia Byttebier Meyer - Argentina
Tamara Alia
Tom Baggaley - England
Vincent Leow - Singapore
Yasir Ali - Sudan

CEREMONIES AND EXHIBITIONS:
2008. USA
Grafton Peace Pagoda. Grafton, NY. Hiroshima Anniversary Ceremony August 1
Grafton Peace Pagoda. Grafton, NY. Anniversary Ceremony and Celebration October 4
Leverett Peace Pagoda. Leverett, MA. Anniversary Ceremony and Celebration October 5
2009. USA
Mount Wachusett Community College. Gardner, MA. March 9-31
Hampden Gallery. University of Massachusetts. Amherst, MA USA. April 1-31
Here There and Everywhere: Anticipating the Future of Art.
TransCultural Exchange 2009 Conference on International Opportunities in the Arts. Omni Parker Hotel, Boston, MA.
Virtual Presentation: April 3-5 TransCultural Exchange will produce a virtual catalog on its website and an actual catalog.This catalog will be given to all the participants in Here, There and Everywhere and to all of
the speakers (residency directors, international curators, cultural attaches, etc.)
2009. France
Artists Over the Frontiers. Benedictine Monastery, Chauveroche. May 31, June 1 (Aram Chaled Res, Laurette Wittner)
2009. Romania
Museum of Art. Satu-Mare. August 14 (Dorothea Fleiss, tentative)
2010. Germany
Gallery Graf. Heidelberg. (Elisabeth Ochsenfeld)
Germany. Switzerland, Austria: Sylvia Reiser
Vietnam (Dang Anh Tuan, tentative)

Sound Prayer Flags

Sound Prayer Flags to accompany the Prayer Flags Around the World Project was initiated by Mary Ellen Miller. The first Sound Prayer Flag was recorded on March 22, 2009 with Mary Ellen Miller, Tristan Gordon, and Kai Matsuda. Musicians around the world are invited to create Sound Prayer Fags on a CD to be played with the Prayer Flags as they are exhibited around the world.

pray
sound
pray

play out these tones

tones
rising up from the earth
from beyond the earth

tones
falling out of the sky
from beyond the sky
sound
prays
sound
prays
for healing
sound

bridges
crosses over
rivers, oceans, mountains,
lifetimes,
lifelines
sound

prays
seeps in
through the skin
Skin prays in all colors.
sound

prays
crosses over
bloodlines
sound

prays
bones
walking
bones
lifting

bones
chewing
on sound bones
sound bones
thunder
sound

prays

sound

flies
on wings
wings
beating

the stories of the Great Migrations

wings
beating

flapping
wind sound

wind sound
ribs as wings

flapping
in skin and muscle

sounding prayers

Sound skins us all alive.
skins of animals
sound the
earth prayers
skins of fish
sound the
water prayers
sound
prays
“lift up over sounding”
prayers
gateways to pass through
gateways to the spirit
gateways to the first flame
sounding the first fires of the Great Love Mystery
prayers
sound

metal
heartwood
grassroot

skins
play
pray
love
Prayers come full circle.

sound
prayers
flag
All Our Relations.

 

Mary Ellen Miller, March 22, 2009

 

Last Update: 05/17/2009