The Art of Yes

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Is this too political?

Yes Vote art marriage equality

Art and Soul says Yes
(as does Sally Swain)

Here at Art and Soul Space, I try to not be issues-based, barrow-pushing, brow-battering political.

I wish to create a breathing space of spark and light; an honouring of human creative life force. I aim to cultivate beauty and authentic expression amidst the hurly-burly of haranguing horridness that many are faced with daily.

But hey.
Sharing my Yes Art fits with these desires AND it’s political. So I will stick my neck out, publicly proclaim a passionate opinion and risk whatever flak might arise.

And hey.

I’ve been political before here at Art and Soul Space blog, and it seemed to sit well with a few of you fine folk out there.
(see Art Heart Resources for troubled times)

Here goes, then…

We are

‘voting’ here in Australia.

The question on the form is:

Should the law be changed

to allow same-sex couples to marry?

Get ready for my rant …

The absurd, discomforting, crazily expensive, non-binding postal survey that we are enduring is a prolonged and gruelling exercise in activating unkindness. One hundred and twenty-two million dollars could be spent in so many healthful, socially supportive ways. The survey is wrong wrong wrong. It is bringing to the surface fundamental fears for safety and security amongst our rainbow population. It is bringing to the surface grizzly, hate-filled, toxic and sometimes violent homophobia.

However, the survey machinery is well and truly cranked into gear, so I figure the thing to do is Vote Yes for equal rights for all humans.

Swain rainbow posy

I spontaneously gathered a rainbow posy on the way to the post box. It was part of the ritual of giving my Yes Vote a decent send-off. I managed to find all seven colours of flower, without trespassing. Civilly disobedient Sally!

I set about making a piece of Yes Art to place in my Art and Soul studio window.

The purpose is to encourage and hearten LGBTIQ people who might be feeling demoralised, unsafe or threatened.

To be honest, I’m kind of surprised I haven’t seen Yes Art everywhere in Sydney’s inner west. There’s a poster or a banner here and there. And there are dedicated bands of people campaigning behind the scenes, but not much Yes Art. Maybe it is around and I need to get out more.

The creative process of making my Yes Art?

Collage.

Yes Art rainbow collage

Yes Art rainbow fragments.
Magazine pages torn up only to be reassembled in an act of creative destruction.

I become utterly absorbed in finding each colour of the rainbow, good and clear and bold, in a glossy magazine. I tear the slabs of colour into small pieces. (Handy uses for hummous containers #573)

I assemble the mosaic style collage into the form of a spiral with wings, which happens to be the Art and Soul logo.

mosaic collage rainbow Swain

Yes Art and Soul rainbow mosaic collage

And glue them down. Fiddly. Tweezers. Remember to breathe.

I add the lettering and black outlines, a smattering of glitter

and Bob’s your aunt

and Bertha’s your uncle.

It’s time to display a sign of acceptance of diverse gender expression in the window for all to see.

window art rainbow sign

window art
rainbow sign
Yes
affirmative
definitely

with love, art and soul from Sally
PS In my next (gulp) bold move, I’ve just created a whole new category for this blog: Art and Social Change. Try clicking on it, if you’re game.
PPS 2 close-ups to show there’s more sparkle than meets the i-phone eye.

Yes Art marriage equality Swain

whee hee! rainbow glitter spiral

sparkle glitter rainbow

sparkle
glitter
rainbow
art
play

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17 thoughts on “The Art of Yes”

  1. yes yes and yes
    i’ll declare myself too sally
    I’n with you
    yes to yes art
    yes to art
    yes to love
    yes to equal rights
    yes to yes

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Yesssss!! Go Sally! So beautifully and Yes-fully expressed in your words and art. I love to think how this is in your window inspiring and uplifting passers by with such loving and artful Yes-ness! 💖🌈💖

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Yes to Yes Art, yes to being political, yes to your rainbow posy. yes to loving kindness. As a cuzzie from across the ditch, I have been shaking my head over Australia’s non-binding postal survey. I hope these goose bump making scenes will be Australia’s too, before long. https://youtu.be/DW4DXOAXF8U Start at 1.20 if you are short of time. Love Wins in the end. Oh, I couldn’t get your Art and Social Change link to work. 😦

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Yes, you definitely fixed the link. In the meantime, WordPress is doing silly things and sending my comments to spam. Btw, this is actually Gallivanta from silkannthreades. Would you mind checking if my other comments have gone into your Spam, please?

    Like

    • Thank you Sketchuniverse for reblogging this. The good news is….the Yes vote won. There was more gruellment as we had to wait for parliament to vote. Same sex weddings are now happening all over the country. Yeah. Something happy-making in amidst a heap of awfulness.
      Thanks again for sharing the joy, art and power.

      Like

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