Corazones Cosidos– hearts
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The gold thread I used to mend the hearts communicates the idea that beauty can emerge from even the darkest places. The lines created with the gold thread create a sort of map connecting and closing the punctures of each heart and reference the Japanese art of Kintsugi, in which broken ceramics are repaired with gold and made more beautiful. In this way, I mean to highlight the potential for growth, wisdom, and even beauty that can arise from healing after injury or trauma. As I sewed my way through the hearts I found myself trying new stitches that reminded me of the different paths of our healing journeys or addressing issues. 
Not only is there no attempt to hide the damage, but the repair is literally illuminated... a kind of physical expression of the spirit of mushin.... Mushin is often literally translated as ‘no mind, [無心].’ but carries connotations of fully existing within the moment, of non-attachment, of equanimity amid changing conditions. ...The vicissitudes of existence over time, to which all humans are susceptible, could not be clearer than in the breaks, the knocks, and the shattering to which ceramic ware too is subject. This poignancy or aesthetic of existence has been known in Japan as mono no aware, a compassionate sensitivity, or perhaps identification with, [things] outside oneself. 

                                                                                                     —Christy Bartlett, Flickwerk: The Aesthetics of Mended Japanese Ceramics
The Corazón Cosido series includes three test prints.
2023 © Deborah Lawrence Schafer