How Art Heals-WEB

75 32. Sharon Peoples WWW.SHARON-PEOPLES.COM AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA After practicing art for several years, Sharon decided to study art history and curatorship and went on to earn a PhD. “While working as a researcher in museum studies, my sister, brother-in- law, brother-in-law’s twin, and husband developed forms of cancer. My husband survived, but the others didn’t. My response to these losses re- sulted in several pieces of art, including Habitus Mandala . “ Habitus Mandala evolved from a few semicircular fanlike pieces that I had made when I was inspired by black Spanish lace fans. One took on a treelike formation. This piece came to represent seven members of my family walking the Camino de Santiago in Spain after our three deaths. “People have trudged along the route for more than a thousand years. The Camino leads to Santiago de Compostela, in northwestern Spain, and is around 1,000 kilometers long. Its paths begin in France, Italy, and Germany. In the past, people walked the route as an act of penance. More recently, it is seen as a way to take time from life’s hectic pace and reflect on one’s cir- cumstances. For me and my family members, it was a time to reflect on our losses. We are the figures in the mandala. I used black thread as a signifier of mourning. It recalls the black garments the Spanish wore after a death.” Habitus Mandala was made some years after the big walk. It took me a long time to f igure out how to say what I wanted to say about the deaths. I used lace machine embroidery on soluble fabric. The lace ref lects the fragility of our lives. Stitching away, day after day, with full concentration was almost like walking the Camino again. I was elated when I f inished. The work was a record of the journey—both the walk itself and the meditation on the importance of family.