Leafing through Improvised Life’s archive, we came across artist Meg Hitchcock,’s assemblages of letters cut from sacred texts and formulated into others. They reminded us of mandalas: harmonious radial images designed to create a calm, contemplative feeling.

We could imagine focusing on several of Hitchcock’s images in the midst of our day…

…like What a Wonderful World, its letters cut from the Koran (above)…

…and the Buddhist Prayer for Peace, each letter cut from the Methodist Hymnal…

 

Meg Hitchcock

 

…or the Red Lotus Mantra — Om Mani Padme Hum —made from letters cut from Bible, with threads from Tibetan prayer flags…

Meg Hitchcock

Like a mandala, they evoke wholeness and connection…

The deconstructed idea of the mandala that many of Hitchcock’s work evoke got us thinking about mandalas we’ve seen in the natural world.

 

 

 

Atlantic Moon Snail / Matthewwills.com

nasa.gov

And then there are those made in Nature like the ephemeral spirals James Brunt creates, knowing they will be washed away…

James Brunt

James Brunt

 

All are images we can carry with us, in our heads or a phone or screen, or printed out and taped onto a wall…to check into when we need a few moment’s of calm and illumination…

 

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