Before and After

There are moments in life when I have experienced sudden major change - markers on my timeline where I am conscious of the 'before' and the 'after' because my reality is so very different. I began this piece the day before Japan's earthquake and tsunami - and it unfolded like a dream with fabrics I'd recently dyed as part of a shibori class. I was drawn to include a piece of a Japanese napkin and to add a wave of silk gauze to complete a circle of life. Later that night as I drifted to sleep, I saw a wave of liquid advancing over cloth, dyeing it pink and the next morning when I turned on the radio, I heard the news of the natural disaster. As I went to take this photo, a wind came up and curled one corner of the cloth in an arc like a tsunami wave, flipping it right over - you can see it rising in the shadow, below. I am calling this 'Before the Wave' and it is a marker of personal 'befores and afters' I've lived through as well as of the enormity and impact of the Japanese tsunami . It is also a symbol of faith that even though many lives have changed forever, the circle of life will continue.