This morning I wandered into the Immigration Museum for Drop 8. The Immigration Museum is in the old Customs House and the building is incredible! There was a school group taking up most of one of the floors, so I went upstairs to the top floor to find a little space in which to drop the books. On the landing on the second floor was a wishing tree, on which you could hang wishes in an ancient Japanese tradition, which was beautiful! So I couldn’t resist leaving one of the Journals on the wishing desk…
Author Archives: Sayraphim
Second Finder response for Journal 2
Finder response for Journal 19
And tonight, Journal 19′s Finder let us know her thoughts on the experience via a post on the Sharing Ink website. I’m so thrilled that this project has made so many people’s day!
Final hand back – Journal 20 returns
Today I came home late in the afternoon to find a familiar sized package in the mail box. The Inscriber of Journal 20 has been super busy, dashing around the country for art purposes, so they sent the Journal back instead. It’s now resting proudly atop a (much shorter) stack of the last of the Sharing Ink Journals, ready to go out into the world…
Finder response for Journal 1!
Just like the super quick response from the Finder of Journal 2, only moments after I uploaded the photo of the final Drop of the day, Journal 1, I received this response via Twitter. I’m so happy it found a good home and that the Inscription resonated with the Finder!
Finder response for Journal 2!
A Journal drop goes like this. I find a good place and wait til no one’s around (or in cases f super busy places, when no one’s looking) then I put the Journal down, photograph it with my phone and walk away. As I’m walking away, I upload the photo to the Sharing Ink Facebook page which also loads it up to Twitter. This is to give the best chance for people to see the photo and then go looking for the Journal.
Pretty much the moment I walked away from Journal 2 and loaded the image to Facebook/Twitter, I received this tweet in response. Since Jelli had been in the NGV looking yesterday for a Journal with no luck, it was awesome that she found one today!
Drop 7 at Federation Square
This afternoon I trekked into town to Fed Square for Drop 7. The clouds were threatening but I was feeling brave and didn’t bring an umbrella. Which, it turned out later, was the wrong decision. However, Once inside the relative warmth of Fed Square, I found that the Atrium, my planned drop zone, was filled with tables on which later tonight there will be much wine for a wine awards ceremony. I am nothing if not flexible, so instead I headed outside to drop the Journals, hoping people would find them before the rain struck.
Drop 6 at the National Gallery of Victoria
This afternoon I went into the NGV to do drop 6. Mad props to the NGV – they have excellent security and constantly roaming volunteers which made trying to drop the Journals very tricky indeed! But I managed to drop one under the portrait of Vali Myers by one of my favourite Melbourne artists, Miso, which graces the cafe on the second floor, which made me very happy indeed.
Finder Responce for Journal 9!
Inscriber response
This morning, like every morning of the Sharing Ink drops, I contacted 3 Inscribers to let them know their Journals were heading out today. In response, one of those Inscribers – Dan Donahoo - wrote a lovely blog post about being part of the project.
It’s copied below, but you can also find it on Dan’s website, here.
Lovely to be a part of @sharing_ink
Sharing Ink is a public art project devised and delivered to us by the quite amazing and playful public artist Sayraphim Lothian. She describes the project as so:
Sharing Ink is a Guerrilla Kindness work.
30 handmade books will be given to 30 local writers and artists to inscribe with a lovely message to a stranger. From 1 – 10 August, 2013, these books will be left out in various places around the Melbourne CBD as a gift to whoever finds them.
I’m working to make the world a nicer place, one hand crafted experience at a time. (Read more here…)
I was flattered to ask to be one of the project “Inscribers”. And was somewhat overwhelmed when looking over the others who are the creative and motley crew to make a mark in the journals. Among them I found some friends, some colleagues, people I have known before and others who I respect and wish to get to know. I think Sayra has pulled together a fantastic collection of people who work with words to be a part of this little act of kindness.
My journal goes out today, it will be left somewhere around the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, which I think is appropriate – as the inscription that I created was not just for the journal, but offers the finder the chance to jump out of the soft and delicate handmade pages and into a messy screen space that I built online to accompany the words.
There is something very important to me about writing words and stories. It is lovely when that sense of import is captured in a project with people whose words and stories and work I also admire. In my hectic life of raising three (soon to be 4 kids) and creating ideas and shaping little side projects and fitting in some games where I can – the ability to connect with people like Richard Watts and Alicia Sometimes and Emilie Zoey Baker and Christy Dena and Adam Ford and Fee Plumley…let alone attend a Pop Up Playground play test with Robert, Sayra and Ben – is difficult at times.
Sharing Ink has helped me (the typical fragile and slightly anxious writer) feel connected to my creative community again.