olya
salimova
migration is what all species do–
butterflies and people
transformation is my freedom
earth is our home
on my wings i carry the sky
wisdom keeper
wisdom keeper, flight of butterflies project
The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Chicago, IL
butterfly is a wisdom keeper by transformation, rebirth, and change, as seen in her life cycle – from caterpillar to winged insect. she is freedom, joy, and lightness, the soul in flight of spiritual journey. she is good fortune, new beginnings, or the enduring nature of love and beauty. by shedding old forms she embraces a new self.
in Greek mythology, Psyche (the goddess of the soul) has butterfly wings, and in Márquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude, butterflies are fateful and swarm with memories and desire. delicate messengers they are, the butterflies. and beautiful migrants.
the way the nature's treated is the same way
we treat each other
the reverse is equally true
save our home earth, care and guard freedoms
of her citizens – human and non-human
within the cycles of politics, social justice
and environmental change
oh wisdom keeper guide us all to alter
embrace the ethos of the nature museum
preserving each species' originality and personal connection to the world
dispersed across the city each butterfly
becomes a living word
an artist's journey of metamorphosis
and immigrant's story of adapting
a mirror that observes dynamics in rich diversity
a call to action for the protection of
locally and globally imperiled habitats and lives
