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Bird pins (brooches) made out of scrap materials by Japanese Americans held in internment camps during World War II.
From The Art of Gaman: Arts & Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946 by Delphine Hirasuna (Ten Speed Press, 2005).
Gaman is a Japanese term of Zen Buddhist origin which means “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity”.
Love this. Beautiful birds... It reminds me of my mother who is nearing 90, blind in one eye and losing sight in the other. Different circumstances from the above, I know, but one could say she has become a "prisoner" to her failing body, enduring her life as it is now. She sits and colors most of her days. I love that she still has that creative impulse, wanting to "create" something of beauty. I think she also does it to maintain her sanity, in an otherwise very "confined" existence now, unable to do what she used to do, etc., etc., etc. Like I said, different circumstances I know, yet... We do what we need to do to endure...
ReplyDeletethanks for that, Catherine.
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