Our hearts carry all sorts of magic, feelings, aches, grief, sadness, hope, memories, despair, joy, longing and love of all sorts. Sometimes we need to hold our hearts in our hands to remember all the tenderness, veneration, care, attention, and love it deserves. Let’s meet to exteriorize the intangible, to reinvented, renewed and reaffirmed what is inside our hearts. In a caring collective circle let’s hand make our hearts, stuffed them with crystals, herbs, petals, shells, wishes, poems, names of beloveds, seeds, tiny things and other soul medicines, and adorned them with our imagination.
Most materials are provided, but please bring any element or materials you want to have inside your heart (this can be symbolic, for example a piece of wood to represent roots or groundeness, names of the ones you want to hold close, poems, etc.) We will be working outside at Pandora Park. Should the weather be chilly please feel free to bring a blanket and cushion.
About the Workshop Facilitator
Paola Quiros-Cruz is a Colombian femme immigrant living in the unceded, stolen, and ancestral lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. She identifies as a bruja, roots and ancestor’s venerator, emergent artist, yerbatera, cat worshiper, and community organizer. Paola is all about putting ideas into action where voices and bodies are celebrated, where belonging is a feeling to hold, and nourish.
Paola’s art practice is informed by personal experiences of living in between homes, the impacts of intergenerational trauma, and the ongoing grief processes. Rituals, altar and art creation have been anchors to connect Paola’s with her ancestral rhizome, her longing to find belonging, and share that fire with her community.