I believe this concept has been in my mind since 2017.
I don't know why it took me so long to sculpt it, but the timing seems rather fitting. The way the orca is breaking through the water, which is not just water, symbolizes more than just bobbing at the sunset. The colours I chose for the water are the same rainbow effect one sees in oil spills in water, and at the same time it's the same warm, cozy colours one sees on the water at sunset.
By her breaking through this beautiful, yet "stained" water, in such an upright and confident way, she is breaking through the hardship, she is rising above what's detrimental to her.
Why did I choose an orca?
In truth, I didn't really chose her. She chose me. I've loved orcas since I first saw them in a marine park in San Clemente del Tuyú (Argentina) when I was around 5 years old. I wrote about this experience in my blog post "My mission behind my orca necklace" , I believe them to be my animal spirit guides and I see them in my dreams a lot. When I first tried to connect with my spirit guide through dreams, in my first dream an orca appeared. I was on the beach and there was a lot of people there, when suddenly the dorsal fin of an orca broke through the water and it was quite evident it was swimming towards the shore. Everyone started screaming, running out of the water and away from the beach. All but me. I instead walked towards the shore as the orca carried on swimming as if looking for someone and eventually beached itself. When I reached her she started singing. It was then quite clear to me she was looking for me.
When I woke up, and the human ego kicked in, I thought "what does that have to do with me trying to connect with my spirit guide/s?"
So of course, I googled it. As you do. And what I found astounded me.
I wish I could find the exact article I read then, which made a lot of emphasis on a spiritual connection. I knew then that this was my guide's way of connecting with me, either because she is an orca (or one of them is), or she shape shifts into an orca because she knows I will feel at ease in her presence. I say this because, not long ago, I had another dream where I was in my childhood home porch, and at least two orcas were there with me. They were bobbing through the water (which was the garden, but somehow it was water-like) so that their heads were level with me (I'm not tall, so that's not hard :D) and they said to me telepathically: "We are not really orcas, but we have to look this way because otherwise you'd be afraid." Or something like that. I didn't mind that one bit, because I felt their very protective energy around me and whatever they looked like, the love and protection I felt from them would have been stronger than fear. Still I trust that at that moment in time, they chose wisely. Maybe I wasn't ready then.
I have since wondered what they really look like. I've wondered if they are beings from other planets? Other dimensions? Dreams are already another dimension, they are the universal consciousness. But I wondered specifically over their nature.
Now that I've explained why the orca, you may be wondering why the barnacles and mermaid scales (some people thought they were shells) and the piped-like dollop of cream?
The answer is very simple. We are all CONNECTED.
The distance between us, the distance between things, that our brain perceives as "empty space", is not really empty. Nothing is solid even if we perceive it as such. Everything is infinitely vibrating. Everything is energy, even if we can't see it with our naked eyes.
And because everything is connected, everything becomes ONE. What I do, has repercussions on a universal level. What you do, has repercussions on a universal level. We are all facets of the same diamond, droplets of the same sea.
We are different and we have different lives because we can't experience all lives at once, we can only do so one a at a time.
The cream is not just something pretty that I added to the sculpture. It's a symbol of the effect that human actions and interference have on the planet. It could easily have been a bottle of ketchup. But seeing as sculpting cakes (and baking cakes!) is one my predilections, it made sense in my sculpture.
They CONNECTED rather well.
Sculpting barnacles and mermaid scales didn't start here. It started a few years ago wanting to express this same connection that I saw and felt in everything. Even a mermaid is a connection of two beings, a fish and a woman. In some earlier accounts, of a bird and a woman as I learned in the book Il mito delle Sirene, Immagini e racconti dalla Grecia ad oggi - Maurizio Bettini, Luigi Spina.
If you'd like to see find out more about this concept you can read my blog post "Going with the waves"
My orca sculpture video doesn't have any commentary. I was going to record it initially, but once I've added the music and I found myself watching and editing the footage, I thought "no, I won't add any. The sculpture and the music alone say a lot already (about the message of the sculpture)".
We are currently facing unprecedented and very challenging times. For the first time we find ourselves confined in our homes, with more time in our hands than ever before. Life hasn't changed very much for me in the sense that I work from home, but I felt the shift nonetheless and I understand that for some people being at home is like being in a cage.
But I think we should take this opportunity to sit in silence. To think about what we are doing on Earth and to the Earth, which are not the same thing. I think it's a time to listen more deeply to nature and to ourselves by simply being in silence.
We live in an era where we are constantly being bombarded with so much information we can't even listen to our inner voices anymore. I don't know about you, but I need silence. I crave silence. How can I otherwise listen to me? To nature? I live in a relatively quiet place and I'm very thankful for that, but I crave more stillness, more trees, more birds and less roads, less cars. I feel very lucky to live by a river, to have so many trees behind my house that seem to whisper to one another when the wind blows. I am so thankful for the birds, the foxes and the hedgehogs.
DISCONNECT to RECONNECT
It takes a disconnection from social media and other distractions to reconnect with yourself. Simply going on a walk in nature if you can, sitting or lying in the garden, meditating (in the garden if you want), breathing, exercising, singing, playing an instrument, creating art, cooking, etc. If you want to go deeper, you can even give social media up for a few days, weeks, months? I have to every now and then because it drains me. I work in bursts. I couldn't do it everyday. And I feel so much better and so much more ME when I'm not online.
I think this is a time to spread LOVE; to be there for our loved ones physically and emotionally when being there personally isn't an option. It's a time for nurturing our spirits, doing more of the things that make us happy and that bring other people joy, which is incredibly important, especially at a time like this.
I think it's a time to be THANKFUL; for having a home, for having a bed, food and health, friends and family, for the people who are going so many extra miles to make our lives better.
For the moment of NOW.
I really hope you're doing well and that your loved ones are too. Look after yourselves and each other and I'll catch you next time,
Love & Light,
Mai
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