After gathering some rocks during my evening walks, I began the aesthetic process by spray painting base layers of green, gold, and black. At the time, it had been raining regularly, so I decided to leave the rocks outside as an experiment; as suspected, the drops of water formed interesting patterns in the wet paint.
To capture the tension of this particular pandemic moment—with the profound sense of loss and grief— I tried to make some burn marks on the rocks with a cigarette lighter (I had never used a cigarette lighter before, so I burned my forefinger a few times before I got the hang of it). I continued by adding random drops of fluid acrylic paint and allowing the paint to naturally spill over the burn marks. This technique didn’t produce the results that I wanted, so I held each stone under the running faucet, which succeeded in activating spontaneous layers of colorful patterns.
The finished interactive artwork, situated in my garden near the mailbox, invites passersby to take a rock or to leave a rock. The colorful rocks blooming in my garden also reflect bounty—in times of scarcity—through the gift of art. This generative work invites community members to start a constructive dialogue by including a mystery prompt painted on the bottom of each stone. When participating with this healing installation, individuals shift from spectator to witness—giving a testimony of peace within our conflicts.
