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Both Yvette Sitten & Tiffany Singh’s combined practices use natural elements and ancient methodologies to draw on healing frequencies and vibrations to articulate the beauty of natures bounty. They do this to aid connection for the audience in a real and visceral way.  The unfolding of the dual exploration aims to create accessibility to a new generation to engender policy & advocacy of awareness of wellbeing.  With a  Social Practice focus towards Eastern Philosophical ideas of wellbeing and a lens towards social prioritisation. This description of wellbeing pertains to wellbeing associated to both personal, environmental, cultural & spiritual histories.  Thus enabling this alchemy of elemental energies and sacred plant knowledge to be fused into a synthesis of the ancient/modern future template - a vision of ancient knowledge and a reawakening to new technology and human capabilities.

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Journey Through The Rainbow Alchemy Lab

Chakras are spinning “wheels of light” or energy centres in the body that start at the root chakra at the base of the spine, and travel up to the crown chakra at the top of your head, stopping at five other points along the way. When the chakras are open and operating at their fullest, they draw fresh energy in from the unified field that replenishes and nourishes your personal energy field and keeps you healthy. Journey  Through  The  Rainbow  Alchemy  Lab  is a 2 week intensive, focused on balancing and recalibrating ourselves with the natural cycles and foods of the earth.

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Fairy Attraction Potion is a nature essence, its green woody scent reminiscent of the connection to all living things. Brings a deeper sensory awareness of the guardians and forces of nature. This oil helps illuminate the rainbow body and evokes a magical sense of creativity, excitement and imaginative play.

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ALCHEMY LAB The residency enabled an onsite think tank environment that supported cross pollination between the arts and environment. As artists and wellbeing practitioners, we hope to explore the possibilities for Collective Impact and Collective Social Wellbeing. The pedagogy of Social Arts Practice requires a significant shift in mindset and behaviour. This shift sees working collectively take priority over working individually. Rather than becoming focusing on fixed outcomes we choose to foster authentic, relational environments that enable participants to see resources and opportunities through a shared experience of art making and arts practice, thus allowing for new possibilities to emerge. 

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The floor mandala morphed and shifted through the rainbow with the Tara Goddess altar. Water, earth, air and ash where the foundations for this evolving artwork. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for establishing a sacred space, and as a help with meditation. Our mandala referenced the yoni and held the centre space in the alchemy lab defining and fortifying the space. 

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THE RAINBOW ALCHEMY LAB This opportunity comes at a time where the medical care is expensive and traditional knowledge is being overlooked. The aim is to generate a new way of working as a tool for empowerment and communal wellbeing, by creating a living artwork that responds to the environment and becomes and open alchemy lab in a gallery context, that invites visitors to contribute, experience and learn through the live developments and scientific experiments that are happening in the space. Given that plants are the most accessible resources in our communities we see the Alchemy Lab as an activated gallery space that functions to aid plant identification and awareness of their inherent properties, whilst providing sustainability, physical, mental and spiritual nourishment through learning and sharing the beauty of plants. 

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GODDESS ALTAR Tara, whose name means “star” or “she who ferries across,” is a Bodhisattva of compassion who manifests in female form. In Tibetan, Tara is known as “Dölma” (Sgrol-ma), or “She Who Saves.” In particular she represents compassion in action, since she’s in the process of stepping from her lotus throne in order to help sentient beings. Tara became the centre point of our altar she moved through the rainbow with us. Adorned with daily offerings the natural world gifted to us on each colour day. 

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The Final Meditation in our 7 chakra series. Move through the 7 levels of consciousness into rainbow consciousness.  The Journey through the Rainbow Alchemy Lab ends with a rainbow bridge meditation for balance, harmony and radiance.

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Queen of the Night is a mystery essence. It is the oil of transformation that takes you into an unknown space called the Void. This is the creative arena for a new sense of self to emerge - one that takes you from one version of yourself into a new needed experience. The oil allows for a swift transformation of energy by releasing all doubts and anxiety, enabling the shift to be completed with ease and minimum resistance. 

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OUR RELATIONSHIPS What feed’s the artist? as an open ended enquiry with the larger community as the artists examine a creative exploration into what supports our communal wellbeing. The relationships formed, found, experienced and shared are really what is at the heart of Social Practice. This journey was activated by the generosity of those that joined us along the way bringing with them the gifts of knowledge and time. Three generations and four mother and daughter bonds informed and filled the lab with love enabling us to be effective and efficient as both parents and artists alike. Huge thank to everyone who shared this experience with us. We feel truly blessed.

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CROWN CHAKRA / SAHASRARA / SILVER  #Day14 Our final day of giving thanks to the abundance that made the Journey Through The Rainbow Alchemy Lab possible.  The water blessing and tree anointing merged us with nature, receiving the energy to sustain us and then enabling us to channel our personal energy to unite with the collective pool of consciousness. It was a blessing to be at Waitangi and working with the waters of the Kerikeri river with such intuitive beautiful people. Now begins the task of taking our journey home and implementing the awareness into our everyday lives. 

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OFFERINGS Our way of giving thanks to all that supported our enquiry was through prayer and offerings. In this sense our work can be seen to be psychotherapeutic, a place where acknowledgement and offering can activate sensory and intuitive responses.  Here the sense of ritual and offering is a collective way to acknowledge our connection to nature and the wellbeing this connection offers. Māori have always recognised the significance of wairua for wellbeing, in alignment with this, the new addition to the Wharepuke Sculpture Gardens The Devi Temple invites the practice of offering to acknowledge natures importance. The Journey Through The Rainbow Alchemy Lab drew on ceremonial and ritualistic methodologies to continue the essential dialogue around our vital relationships with the natural world and to acknowledge the often painful history of Aotearoa by connecting and honouring the bicultural birth place of our nation.

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CROWN CHAKRA / SAHASRARA / SILVER #Day13 The crown chakra, known as Sahasrara in Sanskrit, is the seventh major chakra. It is located on the crown of the head and is associated with spirituality. To respect this energy centre we immersed ourselves in the blessings of nature to experience unity and the selfless realisation that everything is connected at a fundamental level. Allowing us to experience mystical oneness with everyone and everything.

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The perpetual maiden goddess, Persephone, represents the promise of embarking upon the path of maturity, ripening and enlightenment. Persephone represents the strength that comes from entering the unknown, a creative space where one must simply face the new beginning with new resilience. The coming forth of the dark goddess from the shadow of the underworld to the light of day represents the journey from seed to flowering - the passage of all individuated consciousness

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This blend of White & Pink Lotus with sparkling high notes of lemongrass & lime all balanced by of dusky Rosewood in an unforgettable blend dedicated to Kwan Yin. Aiding pure vision through forgiveness & letting go of old hurts. Using this oil in the bath & before bedtime, as a sleep tonic, ensures a major clearing of the old in order to receive the new. This oil used in massage enhances parent-child bonding & aids in family communication.