This morning, dawn seems a pale pretender compared to the fire of last night’s dusk: no more than a faint glow in a fading sky, like an ocean of ice tinted with the faintest hint of copper at the edges.
That will change before nightfall; a phalanx of thin clouds hovers at the southwest horizon, awaiting the arrival of many more of their kind to amass into a wall of snow tomorrow. It is, after all, the clouds that bring the fire to sky.
We know this lesson well — one that is only barely metaphorical in a society grounded in genocide: It is the gathering storm that brings the fire to the heart of the people.
We have had, by any measure, far too many storms to navigate over the last half-millennium — chaos sown and havoc imposed, harm inflicted with a frequency and severity and cold deliberation that have been far too effective in their purpose. Too many have not survived, and yet . . . there is truth to the saying that we are our ancestors’ dreams.
Perhaps an even greater truth is that we are our ancestors’ love — if not made whole, at least given real, tangible, corporeal and articulable form.
Love, strength, courage; power in persistence and persistence in power. These are the heart of the people, and of our existence.
They are also manifest in today’s featured work. It’s a pair of earrings, but a quartet of indigenous hearts, large and small, sunlit and subtle. From their description in the Earrings Gallery here on the site:
Indigenous Hearts Earrings
In our way, our love for all that is springs straight from our indigenous hearts. Wings honors the unique qualities of our hearts, both literal and metaphorical, with a pair of stunning earrings in the colors of our people: each drop as bold and brave as a warrior’s heart, as red as our collective spirit. They begin with a pair of truly spectacular cabochons of apple coral, the dust of endangered coral beads out to the flame to emerge in a mesmerizing whirl of crimson and amber, copper and bronze. Each stone is set into a scalloped sterling silver bezel atop a backing that extends, at the upper end, into a stylized heart cut freehand to serve as the bail for each pendant. The settings are edged in delicate twisted silver, and via the tiny heart-shaped bails, hang from sterling silver wires. Each earring hangs a full 1.5″ long (excluding wires) by 1-7/16″ across; each cabochon is 1/38″ long by 1.25″ across (dimensions approximate).
Sterling silver; apple coral
$675 + shipping, handling, and insurance
The day the dominant culture dedicates, ostensibly, to its so-called patron saint of love is only four days off: more capitalism, commercialism, yes, colonialism, to0. But the imagery of the season reminds us who we are and of what we are made.
It is love that lies at the heart of the people, our peoples., love that has seen t our survival.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2019; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
