Oh, Had I A Golden Thread – Pete Seeger

 

Oh, had I a golden thread, and a needle so fine

I would weave a magic spell of a rainbow design

Of a rainbow design

 

In it I would weave the bravery of women giving birth

And in it I would weave the innocence of the children of all the earth

Children of all the earth

 

I want to show my brothers and sisters, my rainbow design

Cause I would bind up this sorry world, with hand and heart and mind

Oh, hand and heart and mind

 

Far over the waters, I'd reach my magic band

To every human being, so they would understand,

So they'd understand

 

Motivation: Amazingly, the word “Bound” has meanings as disparate and contradictory as “constrain” and “leap.” Through gestural language, this installation explores this duality.

 

Being bound by a disempowering past can be crippling, yet from the experience springs a deep compassion and gratitude for people and the human condition, serving to bind us to one another. Striving to break free of binding limitations can motivate profound transformation. Being bound by a vision or a cause can compel us beyond the point of comfort, resulting in deep satisfaction and sense of purpose. Breakthroughs always seem to be preceded by breakdowns; I know of no way to unbind this coupling. We search for our true calling from the experience of constriction, imagining what it would be like to find our muse. We humans seem always to yearn from the point of solitude towards connection: towards relationships, towards community, towards freedom and shared self-expression. We are all truly bound to one another with a “Golden Thread.”

 

Models: Each model was chosen for their experience of having overcome some hardship in order to achieve something of great importance to them: a dancer who has suffered many injuries yet formed and sustained a successful dance company, a rock climber with arthritis who set the woman’s solo speed record on El Capitan, an athlete with a hip replacement due to a congenital degenerative condition, and an expectant mother with a childhood of domestic and sexual abuse.

 

Materials: The wonders of packing tape and saran wrap continue to reveal their possibility and limitation. This simple material necessitated quite a search for a “binding” material that would not overwhelm it. Voila: tulle! Like our imagined limitations or our love, tulle is made visible through repetition. As the miniature figures spring from the imagination and strive for self-expression, representing “the muse,” they are bound with a Golden Thread – the lyrics to the song say it all.