Illuminating Peace: A Global Perspective
Merridee created the Illuminating Peace exhibit as a “dimensional vocabulary for peace”, a strategic counter-force to current violent conflicts taking place on our planet. In 2005 she began exploring other world cultures’ use of imagery and symbolism regarding “peace” and, then interpreted the essence of these discoveries into eight artistic fabric panels.
Each of the eight artworks consists of two panels of fabric with a sheer panel suspended in front of an opaque panel. The artist selected sheer fabric for the eight front panels to suggest we merely need to lift this “thin veil” to discover the peace that is always present in our heart and hearts around the World. On each back panel of opaque fabric is a mandala image that symbolizes peace from eight of our world’s cultures.
Merridee created six of these fabric panels incorporating the use of a written vision, “May peace prevail on earth” (in 50 different languages) as a way of honoring the hope connecting our one world family. The other two panels incorporate the word “peace” in 168 languages, using iridescent copper paint.
Peace Image: Olive branch and Dove "May peace prevail on earth" written in: Uzbeck, Urdn, Spanish, Nepali, Chinese Russian, Dari (Persian), Thai, Chichewa
Peace Image: Nepalese Mandala (artist’s interpretation) "May peace prevail on earth" written in: Tagalog (at top), Korean (horizontal), Pashto, Tajik, Lao, Mongolian (Cyrillic), Sinharese, Tamil
Peace Image: Japanese “mon” (meaning equality and peace) Color meaning: • Gold (joy, happiness, optimism, idealism, imagination, hope, sunshine, summer) • Black (power, elegance, depth, mystery)
Peace Image: Loon North American Northwest Native culture "May peace prevail on earth" written in: Dsonghka, Greek, Georgian, Hebrew, Indonesian/Malay, Divehi, Hindi, Kyrgyz
Peace Image: T’ai from the I Ching Hexagram #11 (meaning peace, contentment in Chinese) "May peace prevail on earth" written in: Malagasy, French, Kirundi, Amharic, Kinyarwanda, Portugese, Soweto, Dinyarwanda
Peace Image: Lotus "Peace" written in 84 languages in iridescent copper paint
Peace Image: Universal Peace Symbol (since 1958) "May peace prevail on earth" written in: Bengali, Armenian, Cambodian, si Swati, Burmese, Kazakh, Turkmen, Tetun
Peace Image: Handshake (African meaning = friendship & unity) "May peace prevail on earth" written in: Vietnamese, Arabic, Turkish, English, Sesotho, Swahili, Tigrinya, Dari (Persian)
Merridee believes it is her human responsibility to stand-up for peace during this particular time in history, ensuring that a vocabulary for peace maintains a vibrant presence in our daily human experience. With thousands of people and organizations working toward this goal, she sees herself as one of them.
Her artwork is meant to affirm and build upon all peace initiatives. This exhibit simultaneously offers an opportunity for visitors to contemplate the oneness of our diverse world family while highlighting that peace is “powerfully alive” in human hearts around our globe. Merridee used her love of light, texture, space, color and fabric to communicate this universal message.