Antidepressant Prayer Flags

I have been tinkering with the concept of using Buddhist Prayer Flags with an application towards a modern issue, and having taken antidepressants myself for years and the topic being something I feel strongly about, this seemed to be the perfect subject to base my work around, and get people involved with.

So after attempting to talk to people face to face about the topic its’ seemed that a degree of anonymity was needed to get some open truths on the subject. I started to approach medical help sites, forums, and social networking sites to contact people worldwide about their experiences with antidepressants. I intentionally put no boundaries on who I communicated with the main point being that it could involve absolutely anyone, regardless of whether you have taken any related medications or not. This was to create a piece which reflected all aspects the whole spectrum of thoughts and feelings on the subject.

Having collected the responses together the next hurdle was the issue of which method would be best put the text onto the fabric itself. The fabric still needed to be able to move freely as pray flags do, this is what releases the pray as it were, it also needed to be durable, and for the text to be very clear to read. Having tried using embroidery and t-shirt transfers to no avail I came across digital fabric printers which with the amount of small text I wanted to put onto the flags as perfect. The ink was resistant to water and would last the weathering it would be subjected too.

I then started to think in greater depth about how Buddhist prayer flags are produced, and how the process of weathering is a very important aspect to the success of this piece. The images below are my attempts at manufacturing some basic home-made natural dyes, using vegetables and teas. Beetroot being the most successful but still not really producing a strong enough dye to be practical.

The realisation that I could not dye the material without help from an expert prompted me to get in touch with a lady named Polly Lyster, who works from a studio at the end of her garden dying antique fabrics with natural colourings, for example dried indigo plant. She enjoyed the concept of the piece and invited me to do my art placement with her. The images below are of her studio.

Some shots of the completed flags experiencing the weathers.

 

A few flags scanned so help show the weathering process: