“It takes a broken heart to make a whole heart” is a beautiful saying in the Jewish tradition by the mystical Rabbi Nachman of Breslev.
And this is what the collage and flower photography exhibit of Dariya in Pitanga, on until the 30th of September, called “ The World I Choose To Live In”, will remind you of, not only by the metaphoric analogy of the collage as pieces of life, conscious and subconscious put together, but even more by the reflection in one’s own heart.
Dariya, for those who know her, represents watsu, water and healing. She is also a dancer and an artist and, as the soul of each artist is represented in their work, with her, it is mostly the heart.
The collages are made, childish as it may seem, exclusively from magazines and newspapers. Through them you go to the heart of things, healing heart, loving heart, light heart, open heart, simply a heart story.
In fact, one of the collages is called “Healing Heart”. It catches the attention by the redness of its colour and it truly represents a heart. In it you will discover a Buddha, a watsu healing circle, and Dariya’s head as the head of the Goddess.
As this is a representation of the world she chooses to live in, there is a picture of Dariya’s head in most of the pieces, as not only her physical presence has to be felt, but also her emotional and intimate one.
All those collages, made of sometimes 45 separate pieces, are full of little details worth paying attention to. How therapeutic it must be to cut hundreds of photos and pictures taken from magazines, assembling them as your mind, head and spirit want them to be!
Most of the collages have a theme like “Peace”; 27 of the pieces have, as a central figure, a representation of the artist with the reflection of her face in the water, the top being as we know her and the bottom metamorphosing as a Goddess. Some of them are also glimpses of her life, like the delicate “Womb Healing”, full of crystals, or “In Balance”, for the birthday of her beloved Daniel.
Despite all of them being full of little details, one of them stands out, almost as if it did not belong, with just 5 pieces and a duality of black and red, it represents a woman and a flower and is simply called “Being”.
My favourite remains “Love Temple”, a composition she did with a friend. It reminds me of the beautiful Hindu temple in the pristine Hawaiian island called Kauai, truly one of those places taken from a fairy tale book, and here, with a full moon, a Chinese temple, a couple kissing… gazing at it for a moment, you go into your own love temple.
You already know about the heart opening and healing attribute of watsu, and leaving the exhibit, you will understand its essence even more, either through the collages or the photos of the flowers in her garden, all of them about petals opening, hearts opening, love opening.
Child, Goddess, wounded healer Chiron, heart, island, water, circles, the intimacy transparent through the exhibition is more than touching, it will leave in you a layer of a healing balm in the full understanding that, “It takes a broken heart to make a whole heart”.
This article was written by Chana Corinne Devor for Auroville Art Service. Presently exploring Auroville, she is an art critic and writes for international travel and spiritual magazines.
