Tapestry for Co-Existence – for the City of Vancouver's Public Art Project "The Teachers Among Us" in 2025/2026
This project aims to connect people through expressions in mother-tongue languages and visual language of local plants.
From Vancouver’s diverse language and culture community, adult foreign-language speakers of varying age-groups were invited to contribute handwritten words that refer to their mother-tongue greetings. Each expresses a simple acknowledgement of the “other” through sayings that translate into a “Hallo! Comment vas tu? How are you”.
Using my skills in techniques of print-media, the participants’ handwritten quotes were combined with my watercolour drawings of foraged plants.
This project links to my earlier collaborative work “Proverbial Botany”. It involved 20 adult ESL learners and two interdisciplinary artists to create a video about shared knowledge through plant-related proverbs. It highlighted communal bonds and newcomers’ cultural heritage.
I was born in Germany, 1943, during times of dire human conditions, collective trauma, and slow repair. Today, amidst growing divisiveness and lack of empathy, I fear disengagement and self-isolation. Despite all, my sense of home in Vancouver’s manifold culture-origins inspired me to engage in this new collaborative work to celebrate a “Tapestry for Coexistence” with
diverse community participation.
an “in-kind” collaboration of handwritten greetings from 20 adult Link-4 ESL students @ MOSAIC LANGUAGE LEARNING CENTRE
This project aims to connect people through expressions in mother-tongue languages and visual language of local plants.
From Vancouver’s diverse language and culture community, adult foreign-language speakers of varying age-groups were invited to contribute handwritten words that refer to their mother-tongue greetings. Each expresses a simple acknowledgement of the “other” through sayings that translate into a “Hallo! Comment vas tu? How are you”.
Using my skills in techniques of print-media, the participants’ handwritten quotes were combined with my watercolour drawings of foraged plants.
This project links to my earlier collaborative work “Proverbial Botany”. It involved 20 adult ESL learners and two interdisciplinary artists to create a video about shared knowledge through plant-related proverbs. It highlighted communal bonds and newcomers’ cultural heritage.
I was born in Germany, 1943, during times of dire human conditions, collective trauma, and slow repair. Today, amidst growing divisiveness and lack of empathy, I fear disengagement and self-isolation. Despite all, my sense of home in Vancouver’s manifold culture-origins inspired me to engage in this new collaborative work to celebrate a “Tapestry for Coexistence” with
diverse community participation.
an “in-kind” collaboration of handwritten greetings from 20 adult Link-4 ESL students @ MOSAIC LANGUAGE LEARNING CENTRE