Pandemic Papermaking: Cyperus Papyrus: Memorial Candles

I light candles to feel connection in this time of pandemic isolation. A gesture for the well-being of all beings.
I light candles whenever I start a new paper making project. A gesture to invite my departed family to participate.
I like to think my family are present and engaged as I work with the lifeless plant fiber. Stalk, stem, leaf all used to contain life, was once a harbor to what animates us all.
The empty containers are broken open, beaten, and dispersed into water.
The sheets pulled from the screen are reworked bodies, a new form and function for the departed.
Candle light spreads through the body and I am connected to these plants, and to my family, and to this mysterious existence created from beauty.