Mixed media mosaic, used vigil candles, mirror glass, ball chain
This piece changes as you get close; you become a part of it. As does the environment. This piece has infinite reflections, refractions, and reverence. How am I making ripples and following the abolitionists who came before me? How do we connect as beloved community and instigate and create liberation? Harriet Tubman left us a map. Harriet Tubman Drip on Me.
and Wangari Maathai Prayer Wheel, to Create Compassion and End Suffering
Marla McLean
Mixed media Prayer Wheel, Kinetic Sculpture
$1000
Wangari Maathai tells a parable; the forest is consumed by fire and all the animals run out and watch it burn. Except for the Hummingbird, who flies back and forth persistently using its tiny beak to stop the fire one drop of water at a time.“We’re constantly being bombarded by problems that we face and sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed. [But] we should always feel like a hummingbird. I may feel insignificant, but I don’t want to be like the other animals watching the planet go down the drain. I’ll be a Hummingbird; I’ll do the best I can. “
I created this prayer wheel because the world is consumed by war, racism, injustice, and environmental degradation. Wangari’s life offers a model, map, and mantra. I want people to engage in turning the Tibetan-inspired Prayer Wheel clockwise. The ritual sends out compassionate well-being to end suffering. A tactile reminder that we will collectively create a world of justice and love by each doing our small drop. I will be a Hummingbird. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Environmentalist, Visionary, Human Rights Activist, Greenbelt Movement, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai tells a parable; the forest is consumed by fire and all the animals run out and watch it burn. Except for the Hummingbird, who flies back and forth persistently using its tiny beak to stop the fire one drop of water at a time.“We’re constantly being bombarded by problems that we face and sometimes we can get completely overwhelmed. [But] we should always feel like a hummingbird. I may feel insignificant, but I don’t want to be like the other animals watching the planet go down the drain. I’ll be a Hummingbird; I’ll do the best I can. “
I created this prayer wheel because the world is consumed by war, racism, injustice, and environmental degradation. Wangari’s life offers a model, map, and mantra. I want people to engage in turning the Tibetan-inspired Prayer Wheel clockwise. The ritual sends out compassionate well-being to end suffering. A tactile reminder that we will collectively create a world of justice love by each doing our small drop. I will be a Hummingbird. Om Mani Padme Hum.
Wangari Maathai, Environmentalist, Visionary, Human Rights Activist, Greenbelt Movement, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, 1940-2011
Hummingbird parable and Mkuyu, African Fig Tree
Mkuyu, African Fig tree
Sometimes grief takes a beautiful form.
This piece was inspired by the Gregory Porter song, Liquid Spirit. I experienced this song being performed as I simultaneously mourned the loss of my dad and celebrated my birthday. It was a wave of release, music flowing, crying, and clapping. It was a wholly/holy human sensory human moment when my understanding of life as being immersed in joy and pain became clear. In my studio the repetition of cutting and placing the pieces was healing as well. Listen to the song. Make this piece your story too. “Get ready for the wave/ It might strike like the final flood/the people haven’t drank in so long/the water won’t even make mud/After it comes/it might come with a steady flow/ Grab the roots of the tree/ Down by the river,/fill your cup when your spirit’s low/Clap your hands now”
Fight The Power, (Public Enemy)
An homage to Darnella Frazier, the teenager who filmed the murder of George Floyd.
Mixed media mosaic with vintage camera, tiles, glass, used vigil candles
19.5” x 19.5”
Sankofa/New World Coming (Nina Simone)
Se wo were fi ni
Wosanka a yenkyi
Go Back for what you have forgotten
Mixed media mosaic with vintage camera, tile, glass, used vigil candles
19.5" x 19.5"
Call me a Fool (Valerie June)
“Do your little bit of good wherever you are. It’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” Desmond Tutu
Mixed media mosaic with vintage camera, tile, glass, used vigil candles.
19.5" x 19.5"
This piece glitters and a rainbow made of tile catches your eye all while reminding you that the audacity to believe in the power of change and love
in the midst of injustice and hatred is a superpower
Prayer Wheels to End Racism and Create Compassion
Mixed Media prayer Wheels with mosaic
36" x 11 1/2" x 4"
The four little girls painted on the wheels are Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise McNair who perished in the racist terrorist bombing of The 16th Street Birmingham Church in 1963. While working on this piece, another act of racist terrorism occurred, the Charleston Church Shooting. In response, I added the names of the eleven victims.
There is no more room to add the expanding roster of names and faces taken from this earth through violence rooted in racism.
Turn the wheel to counter the political spoken and unspoken effects of hatred and racism.
The mantra, Om Mani Padme Om, (Lotus Mantra)
Just as a lotus grows forth and pushes out from the mud, may I emerge out of the current culture of despair and violence. May I rise into beauty and compassion.
May I act on this.
Rise up.
Prayer wheels to End Racism and Create Compassion
Prayer Wheel to End Racism and Create Compassion (detail)
"Mom Mom Mom"
A Healing Altar (detail)
“We will not be silent,” In Honor of Malala Youfsazi
Acrylic, paper, pen, mosaic, beads, repurposed toy bus, repurposed wood tray
There are great heroes and saints that walk this earth. One of them is the very brave and young Malala Youfsazi. Shot by the Taliban on a Pakistani school bus for advocating for girls education at age 14. She represents a courage and selflessness that the earth sorely needs. I began this piece as a vigil right after she was shot. She miraculously survived, and continues to risk her life speaking for those who are unable to, or too scared too.
Mixed media mosaic with used altar candle, keys, recycled materials, glass, tile, acrylic painting.
Created in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Inspired by the ferocity and power of women worldwide and Beyonce's song, "You won't break my soul."
Open and Trust Your Third Eye
Mixed media painting on canvas, glass, repurposed fruit bin
There but for the grace of God go I
Mixed media, photography, mirror, in vintage cheese boxes
Mixed media mosaic with ceramic, bicycle wheel
In remembrance of my student Shalita Middleton, who beat the odds through forgiveness, therapy, and education, only to be randomly shot by stray bullets on a campus college in Salisbury, MD far from her DC neighborhood considered dangerous.
John Lewis: Prayer Wheel for Good Trouble
Mixed Media Kinetic Sculpture
As I created this prayer wheel, I listened to hours of interviews with John lewis. I didn't realize how relevant, healing, and needed his voice was in this moment.
I incorporated his words, a symbol of the bridge made from knotted cotton cord, red thread stitched in to represent Bloody Sunday, and symbols from diverse beliefs/cultures that invoke rising up in love to overcome ignorance and hatred.
John Lewis Prayer Wheel for Good trouble
Mixed Media Kinetic Sculpture
John Lewis Prayer Wheel for Good trouble
Mixed Media Kinetic Sculpture
John Lewis Prayer Wheel for Good trouble
Mixed Media Kinetic Sculpture
Turn the Prayer Wheel clockwise to generate love and compassionate energy into the present world. Reflect on your obligation to make good trouble and take part in healing the world through small daily acts.
John Lewis Prayer Wheel for Good trouble
Mixed Media Kinetic Sculpture
Hind Rajab: Prayer Wheel for Our Children
Mixed media kinetic Sculpture
Turn the wheel clockwise to manifest freedom, protection, and love, for children across the globe.
In memory of Hind Rajab, age 6. “On the morning of 29 January, she got in a Kia Picanto along with her aunt, uncle and several cousins. They were seeking to flee the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City. The Israeli military fired on the car, killing everyone inside except for Hind and her 15-year-old cousin, Layan. A terrified Layan answered a call from the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS), informing them that a tank was firing on the car: in the recording, you hear her tortured screams as she is shot dead. When the PRCS rang back, Hind answered, now the only survivor, surrounded by the bloodied corpses of her six relatives. She also referred to a tank and begged to be rescued. At one point she told the operator it was getting dark and that she was scared. After hours waiting for permission, the ministry of health negotiated safe access with the Israeli authorities for an ambulance. The paramedics arrived at about 6pm and were shot upon arrival. Two weeks later, their remains were recovered – along with the decomposed bodies of Hind and her family.” Owen Jones, The Guardian
Hind Rajab: Prayer Wheel for Our Children (detail)
(Olive Tree detail)