Awakening
by John Varah

With newly opened hearts we rise
We say Awake
For those who’ll never open eyes
We stay Awake
With fear that pierces through our lives
We feel Awake
With hope despite so many many lies
Lets be Awake

For though we are Brave so we are Vulnerable
And through isolation only our souls can touch
For what we have lost how so we must innovate
And through this distance find new community
For our environment so we must hold breath
And through its rainbow find our wellbeing

Let’s cast away our wholly selfish side
For we Awaken
Let’s leave the house of envy, greed and pride
As we Awaken
Let’s dream the dream on every changing tide
When we Awaken
Let’s celebrate difference, change and lives
Now we Awaken

We are by nature a company of makers. We see the forming of substance into creative works, by hand, as a key part of our mission. However, we are also aware that technology opens up other opportunities.

Now is a good time to explore new ideas. We are living and working in a period of great creativity and we can use creativity to help make change. ‘Awakening’ is our response to COVID-19.

Many of our trail and parade projects have organised ‘gardens of light’ as part of their offer. As part of ‘Awakening’, we commissioned 12 of our key artists to make a new illuminated sculpture at home, with a limited budget. We are all suffering from a loss of work and also a crisis of the heart and soul. This project has allowed our artists to look at a given theme of the pandemic and create.  ‘Awakening’ is led by Same Sky’s Artistic Director John Varah.

We hope to take this project on tour later in the year.

A special thank you to National Lottery players for making it possible for The Arts Council to fund this project.