Web Art Garden
World Environment Day 2020
5th June 2020 theme is Biodiversity
Learn how all living things on Earth are connected in the web of life
and how we can act
#ForNature
#WorldEnvironmentDay
A United Nations Day and vital platform for action every year since 1974
encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment
http://www.worldenvironmentday.global/get-involved/registered-events
Over 100 artists across 50 countries participated in
Web Art Garden
World Environment Day 2020
Web Art Garden Parallel Events Worldwide
Listed East to West – Following the Sun
Where Freshwater meets Saltwater
We offer our deepest respect and acknowledgement to First Nations People and Traditional Custodians, to Elders Past, Present and Future, for their care of the land, the waters, the wildlife and the culture of this country.
‘Maarall gundi julu gurray yarrang jagi’
‘Every part of the Earth is sacred’
(Translation from the Gumbaynggirr Language)
And so we gathered
8 playful children of the earth tribe
To witness the dawning of this special day
This place of extraordinary energy, flux, beauty and diversity
Feet in the sand, sun in our faces, gratitude in our hearts
Joyful bodies – slowly immersing – finding themselves – meeting each other
Enriched, Connected, Whole and Happy Dancing – Celebrating – Breathing
This Sacred Land
South Vala Beach, Nambucca Valley, New South Wales, Gumbaynggirr Homeland, Australia
Offering by Leonie and Graeme Northfield and Friends Nancy, Kim, Carla, Caitlin, Viviane, Ronja
Photography: Nancy Sposato and Leonie Northfield
Comments from Participants:
It was so special to be in organic ceremony through Mother Earth with actual human beings as well. What a profound and simple way to commune.
Ronja O. Moss
—
‘Maarall gundi julu gurray yarrang jagi’ – ‘Every part of the Earth is sacred’ How sacred to spend a special World Environment Day with beautiful wild earth people.
Caitlin
—
Noticing my response internally to the chaos of the waters meeting, the breath of the water, inhaling exhaling, receding, spinning, whirling, connecting, witnessing.
Carla
—
Feet on the sand, let me simply walk here.
One foot in front of the other.
Lapping waves you almost got me.
Nancy
—
Blue sky, white sand, green hills.
Cool breeze, art in the sand,
River meets sea, sun in space,
Feet on earth, Haaaa.
Graeme
—
Just having moved to the area and finding like-minded people who feel deeply connected to nature and spirit. Moving together in nature has just been incredibly beautiful.
Viviane
World Environment Day
Sydney, Australia
Offering by Margarita Playoust and Friends
Being with Plants and Animals
Melbourne, Australia
Offering by Helen Williams
Jagad – Universe
The Universe is a depiction of bodily expressions of the small universe inside the body and the big universe outside the body – jagad kecil (micro-cosmos) and jagad besar (macro-cosmos). Both can be one integrated body – nyawiji – body inside bodies.
The elements of earth, water, fire, wind and what is possessed by the body as human nature, and the five elements in the human body that are also found in the body of the universe, are a reflection of luck as well as disaster. Luck for those who are alert (always remember and be careful). Disaster for those who forget it (lali).
Tokyo, Japan
Offering by Rianto from Banyumas, Java, Indonesia
Movement Prayer for Healthy Human-Nature Relations
Yeonggwang-gun, South Korea
Offering by So-Young Kim, Kyomu Sister
Sikatu – In Harmony with Nature
Sikatutui in Makassarese means ‘in harmony with the nature’. For this offering by Batara Gowa Institute of Arts and Culture in the Kampung Seni Baruga Kaluarrang, Daeng Basri B Sila played traditional Makassar musical instruments, each of which represents natural elements like the wind, ocean waves and flowing rivers. Andi Redo displayed an installation of a traditional loom with Cura’ La’ba sarong cloth. Cura’ La’ba is a classic pattern for Makassar silk that depicts rivers and rice fields as symbols that the natural environment is the source of life.
Makassar, Sulawesi, Indonesia
Offering by Daeng Basri B Sila and Andi Redo of Yayasan Kesenian Batara Gowa
Reweaving Inextricable Links
Remembering the ‘inextricable link’ between biological and cultural diversity – now termed biocultural diversity – inspired the theme of Re-Weaving Inextricable Links. Practicing movement mudra in dialogue with a plant or tree in the garden of where each person was sheltering-in-place. Then, holding a camera in one hand as an ‘eye’ and taking one spontaneous photo of their other hand or feet with the idea of nature as the foreground. The resulting photo collage hopefully gives a sense of our sharing in caring for biocultural diversity.
Bedulu, Bali, Indonesia
Offering by Diane Butler and Friends of Dharma Nature Time
Purnati Indonesia Cares for the Rainforest -The Last Hornbill
Wildfires and natural disasters have continuously struck Kalimantan, making the situation deadly, devastated and lost.
Although natural disasters often separate people, nature and its cycle of creation and destruction will generate a rebirth.
This can create new life and new hope.
Batuan, Bali & Jakarta, Indonesia
Offering by Restu Kusumaningrum and Friends of Balipurnati
The Sacred Banyan Tree – Universe
The sacred banyan tree in the graveyard, wrapped in black-white cloth, symbolizes balance in life. We Balinese believe that there is a spirit in the tree to protect us from nature’s destruction, therefore we do offerings every day (as shown in the picture) or bigger offerings on auspicious days.
Kerambitan, Bali, Indonesia
Offering by Ni Wayan Ariati
World Environment Day
Batuagung, Bali, Indonesia
Offering by Ibed Surgana Yuga of Umah Solah
Asri Organik
This art offering on the occasion of 5 June World Environment Day was made from natural colouring derived from plants and flowers in the garden of Asri Organik. Our enterprise located In Jombang, East Java, produces and sells both raw and processed organic and healthy products.
Jombang, East Java, Indonesia
Offering by Harmi Fepri Hendarti of Asri Organik
Sedekah Bumi Ritual
Karangpandang, Central Java, Indonesia
Offering by Lyvia Martinez (The Philippines) and Nora Santoso (Indonesia)
World Environment Day
Plesungan, Central Java, Indonesia
Offering by Galih Naga Seno of Taman Hutan Lemah Putih
Alam kecilku, Alam dalemku
Solo, Central Java, Indonesia
Offering by Ari Rudenko of Prehistoric Body Theater USA/Indonesia
Mandala Dharma Smara
This hasta brata ritual offering on 5 June World Environment Day was themed ‘Mandala Dharma Smara’, with a sense of a meaningful act of dharma full of sincere loving-kindness for the structures and elements of the universe. I carried it out alone on a small scale on the land of my home, in growing attuned with my individual life journey and the words that the late Suprapto Suryodarmo shared about how I could continue the hasta brata ritual and be a practitioner of it in daily life. From 1997 to the present day, I have tried to embody the eight qualities of hasta brata by implementing and applying them both in ritual laku (ascetic practices) and concrete practices. One way I have done this is by scavenging – looking for or collecting rubbish or used goods – including collecting plant seeds and discarded objects from trash bins or from places where seeds can be found. I then plant these seeds and grow them in pots that I make from the discarded objects. The underlying thought is that the eight elements of hasta brata (earth, water/ocean, fire, air, sun, moon, stars and clouds) for sustaining the preservation of human beings as a part of nature, must be changed into actively doing creative work, so that the ecosystem rotates in its rhythm and pulse. In other words, as a human being, I do not only explore and exploit nature. In this way it is hoped that the jagad gedhe (macro-cosmos) and jagad cilik (micro-cosmos) will mutually reciprocate full of loving-kindness.
Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia
Offering by Agus Bima Prayitna of Teatr Mantra Gerak
My Garden Has a House
‘Growth and rootedness’ was the approach used in this art exploration using an ancient creative process practiced in Java called Tribawana – The Three Worlds. It was inspired by a program involving 17 university students from four countries: Indonesia, South Korea, France and Madagascar. This collaboration was given the theme ‘Reading the Image of the Batik Semen’, which is one of the important ritual batiks used in Yogyakarta. In the image of the Semen batik there are ornaments of the Garuda bird’s wings, the throne of the king, plants, animals of the earth and animals of the air, mountains, the elements, the tree of life and a house. The house shows the individual existing within culture, along with flora and fauna and the elements of nature such as water, fire, earth and air, which represent the universe that gives us life. The Garuda wings and the throne of the king represent the spirit of the creative process that creates life.
The Semen batik shows the importance of the unity of humans, nature and the source of creativity. It is a visual representation of the creative process that was used in creating this art performance and it became the basis for the process of collaborative exploration that was carried out by the group for one month while working directly in contact with nature. The expressive creativity that took place could be felt through the absorption of the respective cultures of the participants. Through this process, everyone collaborated in creating a performing art event with the story, costumes, sounds and videos. The performance piece was titled ‘The Lotus’. It represented a plant that lives in the water (water as a symbol of knowledge), like the creative process that grows upward by looking at the source of culture…nyawiji…to become one (derived from the word ‘seed’)…growing in rootedness.
Babaran Segaragunung Culture House, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Offering by Agus Ismoyo and Nia Fliam Ismoyo
Spirit Semesta
Let us recall again the importance of the environment, nature and the universe for human beings, so that we can achieve balance, not only for human beings but also for all living creatures that God created, so that all are granted the opportunity to grow and develop in the environment.
The month of June is a symbol for humanity to reflect back on their way of life on Earth. Every year poses the same question – ‘What has happened due to human domination over the environment?’ By looking at events in various parts of the earth, we can easily answer that there is a tremendous amount of damage to nature. In fact, if we look at what is happening nowadays amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, we can see that harmony between human beings has not yet been achieved. So the value of the United Nations 5 June World Environmental Day is not just as a reminder; rather what is most important is to determine what steps humans can take so that we do not merely take from nature but also give and return to nature, and restore nature’s well-being. More deeply, we can cultivate a positive attitude aimed at reviving and renewing the role of humans on this earth.
Tutup Ngisor, Mount Merapi, Indonesia
Offering by Sitras Anjilin of Padepokan Seni Tjipta Boedaja
With a vision of being able to mediate the synergy between living creatures – humans with humans, and humans with nature – to improve the quality of life for the environment, nature, and the universe, Padepokan Seni Tjipta Boedaja with the people of Dusun Tutup Ngisor on the slopes of Mount Merapi, Central Java, felt called to join in the theme of ‘Spirit of the Universe’. This theme is also infused with prayer to foster enthusiasm for improving the quality of life for the universe and its contents.
The essence of the highest spirit for human beings is the soul, the life-force or spirit called to do something without expecting anything in return. This spirit is also the philosophical basis for the art-making of communities on the slopes of Mount Merapi, while the universe is believed to be pieces of knowledge provided by the Creator for inspiring and then giving meaning to life. Spreading fish eggs, releasing birds, planting trees and concluding with a kenduri thanksgiving ceremony is a form of prayer full of meaning. It is believed that these activities can be a medium of communication, a way to convey messages to the wider environment.
Spirit of the Universe is not just about humans, but aims to encourage the enthusiasm of the world community to re-recognize nature, which has provided so much. The hope is that we can remain on the path of positive activities synergizing with nature, the environment, and the universe.
Bambu-ku
This offering had a theme of ‘my bamboo’. Bamboo trees have nowadays disappeared from the life of my village. The community is not moved to remember the bamboo trees and does not feel the loss, even though everyone needs the bamboo trees.
Indramayu, West Java, Indonesia
Offering by Wangi Indria of Sanggar Tari Topeng Mulya Bhakti
Kayu Kering
Jakarta, Java, Indonesia
Offering by Elly D Luthan
Re-creating within Space and Time
Recreation literally means ‘to re-create’, with an aim of rejuvenating one’s body and soul. ‘Re-Creating within Space and Time’ is movement that intends for awareness of presence, as well as re-reading myself for awakening or strengthening relations with near space in the vicinity and a certain time. The act of opening oneself is recognizing. Movement practice is a means for connecting with something nearby, everyday – like the kitchen, living room, middle space, front veranda, front yard, back yard and so on – which I believe can grow a new awareness, new ideas and meanings, and a kind of freshness in our lives. Movement is dialogue: sensing, starting from openness and awareness for developing relations with whatever – objects, plants, and living creatures that are all together in everyday space. These intimate surroundings of everyday life are part of nature and the broader environment. More deeply, I believe we can increase our awareness and sensitivity and the quality of our humanity.
Bandar Lampung, Sumatra, Indonesia
Offering by Alexander Gebe of Komunitas Berkat Yakin
Tubaba: Discovering Solutions from the Future Era
Tabik Pun! Greetings! Hopefully we can all be aware that this Earth is not merely for us and will be occupied by other people in the future era. So I invite us all to pass down a comfort for the next generation by protecting our Earth.
H. Umar Ahmad, S.P.
Uluan Nughik, West Tulang Bawang, Lampung, Indonesia
Offering by Bupati Umar Ahmad & Tubaba Cerdas
Garden Glory
The location for my offering is Lorong Cinta Alam, which means ‘Love the Environment’ Lane.
Garden Glory
On the grass I am free,
I wish for nothing but the strength to be me.
Thank you.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Offering by Mariana Isa
World Environment Day
Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Offering by Wasif Wan
Forest Mask
Dear friends – just before World Environment Day I participated in a class of Natalya Zhestovskaya of OddDance Theatre, St Petersburg. There was born the Forest Mask. The mask helped me a lot in creating my dance in Web Art Garden and reminded me of Prapto’s Gardening work. Sharing with you my Mask and image of guest who visited my window on 5th of June. There also was a thunderstorm and raining almost all day long, which helped me to start my day with cleaning my place, which I did with deep sense of connection with Nature and pleasure. I also remembered those simple words that Prapto use to say: “more daily life”. Rahayu!
Moscow, Russia
Offering by Ekaterina Gedevani
A Gardenia Speaks
Oh Goddess who so generously bestows the undying balm of the eternal scent,
Wrap us up in the invisible net of ancient silence
That heals the pains
That calms the wounds.
—
Hold us again in your warm embrace,
Take care of us as before in the orbit of the sun.
—
With the Golden Apples of Hesperides exorcise the darkness,
With the light of the wells water the crops,
—
Until your perfume reaches the ends,
Until your embrace can hold the sea,
Until the lost find your way again.
—
Gardenia spoke so.
Not only now.
Not only to me.
On grandmother’s old lace I sat and I listened.
—
Being on her level I received her presence.
Mighty and ancient I wrapped myself in it.
—
How is it that her scent suits the lace so well?
Perhaps back then, there was more time to savour it,
To listen to it, to crochet it, to embroider it.
—
One question torments me –
How can I ever convey…
Dedicated with love and gratitude to our teacher Prapto who watered the flower of the heart and made our Garden to blossom.
Athens, Greece
Offering by Yolanda Tang
Η γαρδένια μιλούσε (Greek verison Gardenia Speaks)
Ω Θεά που απλόχερα νέμεις
την αθάνατη γεύση της αιώνιας οσμής.
Τύλιξέ μας και πάλι
στο αόρατο δίχτυ της αρχαίας σιωπής.
Που γιατρεύει τους πόνους
Που ηρεμεί τις πληγές
—
Κράτησέ μας και πάλι
στη ζεστή σου αγκάλη.
Φρόντισέ μας σαν πρώτα
μες του ήλιου τη ρώτα.
—
Με τα χρυσά μήλα των Εσπερίδων ξόρκισε το σκοτάδι,
Με το φως των πηγαδιών πότισε τα σπαρτά,
—
Ώσπου το άρωμά σου να φτάσει τα πέρατα.
Ώσπου η αγκαλιά σου να χωρέσει τη θάλασσα.
Ώσπου οι χαμένοι να βρουν πάλι το δρόμο σου.
—
Η Γαρδένια μιλούσε έτσι.
Όχι μόνο τώρα. Όχι μόνο σε μένα.
Πάνω στην παλιά δαντέλα της γιαγιάς κάθισα και την άκουσα.
Στο ίδιο ύψος μ’ εκείνη τώρα, ένιωσα την ύπαρξή της.
Κραταιά και πανάρχαια.
Τυλίχτηκα σ’ αυτή.
—
Γιατί άραγε το άρωμά αυτό ταιριάζει τόσο με τη δαντέλα;
Μήπως τότε υπήρχε πιο πολύς χρόνος για να το γευτείς. για να το ακούσεις
για να το κεντήσεις, για να το πλέξεις…
—
Ένα ερώτημα με βασάνισε,
Πώς να σας το μεταφέρω…
The Song of the Seed – Un Abbraccio Forte a Voi
Everything starts from the seed…
Ostuni, Italy
Offering by Johan Dhaese
The Birch and Woodpecker’s Song
Berlin, Germany
Offering by Bettina Mainz
World Environment Day
Aarhus, Denmark
Offering by Jonas Stampe and Veronica Medin of Hurraura
Juggling with Web, Art and Garden – in sense of moving nature and humour
In the park moving with chestnut, birch and maple and some visitors all around. Later, because of a heavy rain we switched to the café with coffee, punch and cake.
I am standing in a circle of stones, closing my eyes, centering on my own for the next impulse for movement. From far a little boy is approaching on his bike, shouting out loud “I will beat you all, I will beat you all” cruising around and disappears permanently shouting. Thanks for that, boy. I’ve got my impulse for moving.
Wolfgang Maas
Hamburg, Germany
David Chotjewitz, Wolfgang Maas, Gabriele Ansorge and Andreas Leuze, from the Hamburg Wednesday Group
Threading Softly through the City
Vajra dance day;
flowers in the market;
rainbow in the sky;
slow walk in a busy road;
the camera stopped working.
Much love for Prapto and to all in the garden of life.
Torino, Italy
Offering by Franca Fubini
Drumming for Earth Healing
Kapuziner Monastery Garden, Münster, Germany
Offering by Claudine Merkel and Rudolf Berlekamp
For sharing environment day
A beautiful sight
A sea of marguerites and long grass in the Capuzin monastery garden
A sight of lightness delicate breathing in the garden
Feeling Prapto’s love, freedom, gentleness
Brought in here last year
Wonderful Spirit has grown in this cultivated garden
Sitting in this atmosphere
Under a roof,
Started drumming for earth healing
A huge rain started
A beautiful experience
Thank you
We All Belong – Biodiversity
I danced at home honoring and celebrating the plants in my home that have helped me feel connected and grounded in this time of loss, upheaval and transition.
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Offering by Lily Kiara
All … in One Single Flow
Cévennes, France
Offering by Sylvie Gimmig
Water Waving Biodiversity in the Blue Planet
The water is the source of Biodiversity on the Earth. It gives shape, like a potter, to the different ecosystems: it makes grow the greenest and yellowest leaves in the tropical forests and the hardest and smallest thorn in the deserts.
Water, as if it were a spider´s web, weaves the relationships between all the living beings that populate the Blue Planet and unites them, beyond time and space, in the Great Cobweb of Life.
During the summer in the middle of the Mediterranean heat, we need to water our garden where many different trees have been planted for an Ethnobotanical Garden. We gave children the option to choose which tree to water, to embrace, and slowly it grew, becoming a big Web to embrace all the trees, all the children, all the Life.
Mas Jalech Garden, Barcelona, Spain
Offering by Montse Marti Gasch and Fentevida Project
Photography: Marta Iraizoz
Mas Jalech, in the Barcelona area and close to Montseny Natural Park, is an 18th century Catalan house and ecological farm that cultivates vegetables for the local community. The house is the headquarters of the Fent Vida Foundation that runs various projects, like the Ethnobotanical Garden, to connect people to the land, to promote and create awareness about the powerful healing that Nature gives us.
Song for Life and Geckos
Wild Park, Brighton, UK
Offering by Una Nicholson, Sean Williams, Ollie and Vern
Watering Earth
A moment gazes
On water meadows
Back to ancient times
And the wind watering flowerings of seeds
Whose waves
Rolling on blue skied grass become water
In the breath of the wind
Water rush feet and grasshoppers
Story with irises and ferns
Water falls kiss on geraniums
Seeds on gold drinking earth
Oxford, UK
Offering by Helen Edwards and Rivers of Life Friends
Gardening – with all Beings
Biodiversity – so fragile in the face of human dissociation, carelessness, ignorance and greed. Now Covid waste is already littering the sea and endangering diverse lives. More masks than jellyfish in some parts of the Mediterranean. Waterlogged latex gloves, discarded hand sanitiser bottles. Why do they have to end up in the sea ? Pandemic panic seems to give us permission to disregard the ecology we share with the future and all species. So I move with sadness and a distaste for my own species. What can I do? In this moment. Move with care and creativity. Nurture all beings with every move. Welcome all into the garden – our garden – the world garden. Create a stone welcome – a stupa – for the lizards we sometimes see in the garden.
Kristina Bourdillon
How to give thanks? Nature still seems so full, so rich…
….and yet I know we live in an age of mass extinction.
Remembering the ghosts of fellow travellers, creatures from the forest of my childhood – lapwing, nightjar, water vole, hawk moth, stag-beetle, smooth snake, lizard and many more companions, gone or going…
Singing and moving in this forest now – shaping the grieving, celebrating the amazing richness and diversity of innumerable lives, mixing and moving – ‘making less the hopeless’…
Singing the Song of Ancestor – the Life Tree, inside and outside the body, breathing singing no separation, all speaking this place and the richness and diversity of life…upstream – downstream.
New Forest, Hampshire, UK
Offering by Keith Miller and Kristina Bourdillon
Gardening human
Lifting stone, be like stone.
Planting seeds,
Become seed soil roots leaves drinking sunlight.
Walking the river
Waiting for kingfisher,
Become kingfisher, waiting
Become dragonfly, darting touching leaf
Being watching being
Hearing water ripple over stones
Feeling air ripple
Tasting air breathing air
Transparent
Keith Miller
Out of the Box
Box Wood/ Dance Notes
—
Earth stone
Solid, safe
Cotswold stone slab
Island hidden away
Stream trickles by
Cold fresh, fluid, feet, flowing
Contrast solidity liquidity
Time passes, water passes
Rocking quietly on my island rock
—
Life in minerals of stone
Life in qualities of water
Memories held in stone beneath me
Memories held in water passing me
Life force held in both
Hands and spirit moving
Sense form, sense flow
—
Water carries on
Never stopping
Life force moving
Drawn up into the beech trees
Stem cells like pipes deep within
Capillary action sucking upward
Higher, higher to branches, twigs
To the canopy of soft green leaves
—
My body follows the water trail
Oxygen and water silently exploding out
Microscopically moistening the air
Arms expanding, chest opening
Breathing in the Oxygen
Breathing out the carbon dioxide
Interchange
Partnership in life
—
Up up stretching up to the clouds
Drop, droplets of water
Falling back to earth
Finding ways down through rock
Water table rises
Releasing to the stream
Trickling past the Cotswold stone slab
Trickling between my fingers
Dancing with the water
—
Cycle of life rolling round
The water in my cells has memory
Memories of stream trickling
Memories of tree trunks
Memories of lush leaves
Memories of sky fall
Memories of deep earth dark
Memories of spring water surge
Memories together.
Jo Hofman
Stroud, UK
Dance in a Nutshell
Reflections
(Be not afear’d. The isle is full of noises….) – The Tempest Act III Scene II, Shakespeare
– ‘a poem is never finished only abandoned’ – Paul Valery
—
Waiting in the car park.
Alice is sounding gently
leaning against a low wall.
—
As I reach the ground, the tarmac melts,
Down into the flavour of childhood
Redolent of life at infant height,
of small school playgrounds and public house
car parks. Warmth and stickiness with a scattering of grit
like hundreds and thousands, looking forward to those indentations on the
palms that tell us
we have been marked as warriors.
—
The slates atop the wall stand like dinosaur’s armature
or stacked plates.
The white lines are for balancing or instruction,
the hieroglyphic Hall Users Only
straining to give other meaning,
to reveal secret passages in a maze of shapes.
The cattle grid laid out like organ pipes,
sounding each to find their tune,
pulling on the wooden post
to pump the air through .
—
I see the wall across the road, so clean and patterned, and full of gaps,
shouting we have space, we have space.
Then others join, pilgrims, travellers.
Rebecca rises from her draping on the wall,
endaggered
and we go down,
down into the wood.
—
After all the solidity of light and tarmac,
of black and white and heavy lines,
the atmosphere is green and light, and soft,
like moving through dandelion seeds.
The perfect sound of water falling in a brook
is passed down further till we reach the delta.
A block of concrete sits as a pedestal
to an iron girder shaped like a Hook
We are in Neverland.
Dancers dissolve in and out of the trees like faerie sprites.
And Jo, sitting, unbraiding the water as it rushes down.
—
The stream is spread out, shallow, scarcely moving,
but up above the air is like a sea of green,
leaves waving at each other across the space,
birds calling like ships across the night.
Only the bass notes of earth and trunk and stone tethering all.
The ringing of the bell is like a crashing on the rocks.
So soon, so soon.
I leave reluctantly, torn by a desire to stay and sense of duty to the form
Following up, by layers to the surface.
Simon Slidders
Words and Body at the Chemistry Department
Bristol, UK
Offering by Judy Cole, Rachel Ballin, Jenni Mears
Pirr – A Light Gentle Wind
Pirr in Shetlandic means ‘a light gentle wind’. From Monday 1st to Thursday 4th June as a daily ritual I walked part of The Sandstone Trail, Cheshire, to honour this ancient place as well as to pay homage to all those who have ever trodden its paths, which span 55km. While walking, I gathered sand, flowers, petals and leaves that were strewn across the paths. These were to be offerings in honour of World Environment Day 2020.
Sandstone Trail at Frodsham, Cheshire, UK
Offering by Manny Emslie
Photography: Jonathan W Green
The two images capture me residing in two wooded areas, both of which reveal trees that have fallen and yet they live on, majestically, and are teeming with life forms. Breath mingles with air, which accompanied by a gentle wind enables the offerings of leaves and dust to disperse. On one image, sunlight bathes hands, skin and sand thus enhancing reverence to all that exists in that lived moment.
The Last Escape
Somerset, UK
Offering by Karolina Nieduza
Edges and Corners in the Garden
I spent all day working with corners and edges in my garden. I made a discovery. I started to see mess and untidiness as a fertile ground for loose ends that can be picked up, moved around, shaped and unshaped, like the activity of nature. My granddaughter made a bridge for wood lice in her garden. We both found an atmosphere of play that we had forgotten.
Mendips, UK
Offering by Penny Stirling
Being Gardened by the Garden
Westhay Farm, Charmouth, UK
Offering by Sandra Reeve
Looking at the Mountain: Listening, Reflecting, Remembering
Clodock, Herefordshire, UK
Offering by Stephen Hopkins and Isabel Moros
A Decade of Performing, Bowing and Praying
Starting in the morning and finishing almost in the gloaming, “From dawn till dusk”, the offering is drawn from these photographs and the things I did on the day.
1 Coming home : it’s just a short walk from my house to the river.
2 The river helps me find my nature, sometimes deep and still, sometimes bubbling, restless and full of life.
3 So gentle and playful in this dry season but a raging torrent when the winter rains fall on the mountains.
4 Can I accept all these different beings who make me who I am. May they be well and happy and free from fear.
5 A wonderful, magical playground!
Abergavenny, Wales
Offering by Lynda Bransbury
Walking
Nick and I walked through the fields we have been allowing to regenerate into wildflower meadows for the last 11 years. We walked along the river bank where we have created a 20m wildlife corridor that has been left to regenerate, and into the coppice where we planted 250 trees. Regenerating the land takes time and very little intervention. Often it doesn’t look tidy or pretty to the human eye, but we are beginning to see some magical developments – hundreds of self-seeded oaks growing abundantly in the river corridor, numerous species of wild flowers appearing since the yellow rattle established itself, deer appearing and barn owls swooping the meadow in hunt at night. So many insects. The bluebell wood has re-established since the sheep have stopped grazing it. The photographs show the meadow, river corridor, coppice wood and the full moon rising over the mountain, the evening of the 5th June.
Rhydsaint, UK
Offering by Sarah Hyde and Nick Sales
Giving Back to the Grass
I Only Have to Remember
(Totnes, World Environment Day 2020)
I only have to remember the mallow & dandelion flowers
and their health benefits you first introduced to me
as a little girl, by the vegetable garden,
blessed by the kiss of the butterflies
in that stretch of land above the power plant,
near our home in Terni.
—
I would like to share with you now the smiles
and the expansive breaths
when crossing together the wet meadow,
buzzing with dancing bees
and corn flowers and poppies.
—
The melody of the sparrows’ songs,
the blackbirds serenading while hopping forward on the ground.
The call of swifts sweeping down the grassland
for a drop of water.
—
Dartington Estate, Devon, UK
Offering by Daniela Coronelli and Roy Whenary
That sense of safety, sky gazing
while lying on the grass amongst
the climbing ants, the ladybirds and the waving dances
of shining earth worms
I only have to remember the fragrance
of freshly grown tomatoes, the sweetness of the peas,
just picked from the plant.
—
All of this, mother, you have taught me
and now I would like to share it with you all.
Today that the world’s grasslands are decreasing
and the floods just keep on coming.
Now with so much carbon in the air and
food often genetically re-formed,
Corona has paused humanity’s
long-haul travel for a while.
—
Perhaps today it is a good day to start giving back to the grass,
to move with it, to hear its song,
to resonate its message,
adopt its values and immeasurable compassion
for all that it offers in the exchange.
Daniela Coronelli
Nature Open Nature Private
Cullever Steps and Beltor, Dartmoor, UK
Offering by Ihsan Dal Din
Honest to Great Mother
Dublin, Ireland
Offering by:
Honest to Great Mother – Frances Mezzetti
In the Dark Shadow – Barbara Meade Collins
Dancing with Diversity – Usha Mahenthiralingam
Microcosms while Walking
Walking a forestry track, a Sika spruce plantation. Whenever I walk there I notice the many tiny creatures and plants that make the forest track their home: ladybirds, daisies, lines of industrious ants. Walking and moving on the track. Noticing.
West Cork, Ireland
Offering by Claire Osborne
Collaboration in Sharing
We could not move at the same time on World Environment Day – so we decided to move in our own space/place – keeping in mind we are connected through our shared intention and practice. We each moved outdoors and afterwards we shared together how it was more possible and gave more meaning because we had the support of each other.
Our themes overlap but weren’t exactly the same ………
Ingeborg: Watering, honoring and supporting the wholeness of life.
Laura: Moving and praying, receiving the embrace of the wind.
Pantarei: Dreaming and praying; may the heaven exist inside our soul, others and on earth. Water, wind and earth.
Offerings
Dreaming for the Earth by Laura O Brien
Watering the Earth by Ingeborg Menaribu Friedrich
Dreams and Prayers for the Earth by Pantarei Supriyati
Cork, Ireland – Italy – Bali, Indonesia
World Environment Day
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Offering by Juan Pereyra
World Environment Day
Ontario, Canada
Offering by Mala Sikka and Terry Hagan
Golden Rain – moving in the garden mountain with Guadalupe Virgin and Bugambilias
Such Golden Rain flowers
Hanging down so gracefully,
Such richness and play
In this environment – here and now.
Fullness of beauty and connectedness – breathing together – the earth is our witness ….
Would you let me touch your Delicateness?”
Tepoztlán, Mexico
Offering by Geo Legorreta
A Day in a small place in Hidalgo: Cleaning offering in an old Train Station
A Prayer for the Place I was Born
Hidalgo, Mexico
Offering by Yuliana Menes
A Cactus Facing the Ocean
Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico
Offering by Patricia Elizabeth Torres of The Hueitlahtolli Institute
Ceremonia para La Paz, La Armonía, el Amor y la Salud Mundial
2nd Gathering with ‘The Elders who know’
Participants:
Narciso Navarro and members of the council.
Dalia y Juan Trejo Sandoval
“Vida Luna” Doña Elvira
Don Ruben Iwaki
Doña Dalia Trejo y Don Juan Mayans
Don Carlos Ogarrio y Don Jose Carlos Reyes
Doña Ale Lopez Llera y Don Marte Trejo
Doña Emi Quetzal y Don Asterio Cen Dzul
Doña Ma Jose Izquierdo y Don Javier Edo
Don Martin Ribes
Sonora, Mexico – Peru – Spain
Offering by Carlos Ogarrio with Asociación Camino Blanco Bawari
The intention of the ceremony: to have a spiritual reflection and unify in one Light, the energy from the heart of knowledge and prayer from different wisdom traditions. With the potency of this union, to light the path of others, soothe the hearts of all beings, the ones gone and those of us remaining.
First requesting permission to the directions and protectors of the space and land, each guided by a different elder, with words and chants.
Next Carlos Ogarrio Perkins (M.P.E. Lic. In Physical Education and Sports, Teacher at Sonora University) gave a message from the Comcaac tradition of the Seri people in the Sonora desert: “Understanding without talking and thinking, slowing down to cultivate silence in order to reconnect. Being a spiritual leader requires much humbleness in order to help our brothers and sisters find their path. We are only an instrument of peace of the energy that has created the whole universe.” He followed with a beautiful Seri chant for “Ameme” the sky – and asked us to use some hand gestures on the heart and the space.
Then, white candles were lit, first by members of the council, then the elders, then participants – in order to spread the intention and connect as one – followed by a short silent meditation.
For the closing remarks Carlos sang another Comcaac song about a happy deer grazing without any worries. He also deeply thanked his teachers Chaman Chapo Barnett and his father Miguel Barnett of the Seri Tribe, and Prapto Suryodarmo (who passed away at the end of 2019), of Java, Indonesia who founded the Amerta Movement and Web Art Garden circulation. Carlos finally emphasized how we are a global community — all of us working together from different places, bringing the message from our elders and joining our prayers for 5 June World Environment Day.
A Prayer
Los Angeles, California, USA
Offering by Marilin Martinez
Prayer for the Healing of all my Relations
Pachamama, Santa Madre Tierra, Mother Earth
We come here for the healing of all your children, beloved Mother
The stone people, the plant people, the two legged, the four legged, the creepy crawlers, the finned, the furred, and the winged ones, all our relations.
We are all here to teach our medicine to one another.
Condor Eagle, teach us to soar high and help us to see clearly with the eyes of the heart.
Sachamama, Great Mother Rainbow Serpent.
Teach us to shed the energies of the past that no longer serve us, the way you shed your skin.
Otorongo, Mother Sister Rainbow Jaguar, devour those energies which do not belong to us.
Teach us your ways beyond fear, beyond anger.
Teach us the way of the Peaceful Warrior.
Siwarkenti, Hummingbird.
Teach us to drink of the nectar of life, even in difficult and uncertain times.
Today, we pray that all peoples who walk upon you, Madre Tierra, from the Yellow, Red, Black, Brown, and White Nations, remember that we are all from one race, the human race. We are all connected. Let us see ourselves reflected in the eyes of the other and work to bring harmony, peace, respect, abundance, joy, and beauty to all.
Aho, Ashe, Amen. Mitakuye Oyasin (We are all Related).
Sun Dial – A Scene for Sharing
This spot was an Ohlone shellmound. I come here almost every week,
Sometimes just walking through
—
How to find a new landing, to reimagine on settled land
B r e a t h i n g with place
Feeling my own composition, the language of a gesture
As part of the scene
—
An evolution of context, creation
Contribution, connection
Sharing with all
—
Camera framing movement experience
From a garden sense
—
Earth and sky constellations
Berkeley, California, USA
Offering by Margit Galanter of Vivid Grove
Let’s look after our world together
Web Art Garden Facilitators
Helen Edwards and Keith Miller
2023webartgarden<at>gmail.com
Web Art Garden 