children

A collaborative work with Girls Court of Michigan and artist Pamela Alderman

Scientists don’t completely understand the internal mechanism that guides monarch butterflies. But every winter, millions of monarchs migrate south to the San Andres Mountains in Mexico. Some butterflies even end up on the same exact trees where their ancestors roosted. After the monarch butterflies make the long journey to Mexico, they huddle together on the trees to stay warm.

Like the butterflies, we gathered—the Girls Court participants, the 17th Circuit Court Family Division staff, and the artist. Sponge-painting and conversations filled the fun evening. After we finished painting, one of the girls drew a butterfly shape to provide guidelines for our paper mosaic.

The following week, everyone helped tear and glue the sponge-painted paper onto the butterfly. However, one of the girls, whom I’ll call Brittany, asked if she could just sit and watch.

All the other girls enjoyed the creative process throughout the December evening. The group talked, laughed, and ate candy canes. But about an hour later, a curious thing happened. I noticed that Brittany had finally joined everyone else, gluing paper pieces and laughing along with them.

Much of the butterfly’s life-cycle is a collective process. The butterflies especially need one another to survive the hard winter. When Brittany started to work on the collaborative project, she experienced the power of community. Such relational connections can help heal our deepest wounds and release hope to complete the journey.

Your art projects with Girls Court always amaze me. We never know what we are doing in advance, and then we see the work transform into something beautiful.

Marcela Moralez-Morris, Juvenile Probation and Girls Court of Michigan