International Day of Peace

 21 September - International Day of Peace.

I think Barry and I discovered that International Day of Peace existed back in 2004.  I recall us getting peace badges made and then sending them to all the politicians in Canberra in our federal parliament, and asking them to wear theirs on the day.  I don't think they did.

After that we did a few things intermittently - I recall folding origami peace cranes on planes and talking to my seating companions one year as I travelled for work-work.

But I think the big break came about in 2012 when our friend Mary Jane Dodd in NJ, USA started to make flags for peace. We joined a group of like-minded artists around the world and made and hung peace flags.  In our town, a bunch of local artists joined in, and we even published a book about the project!

If you pop 'flags for peace' in the search button on the side bar here, you will see the many and varied iterations over the years.

Every year since then, we have hung our peace flags - me oftentimes weather grams; and Barry has made and sent out peace offerings - metal birds, leaves, tokens.  This year we also made peace buttons based on some of our artwork; and images of it.

We send them out into the world: across the globe and within Australia, to encourage folk to share peace, to talk about peace, to dream of peace and to work in small ways for peace. It is such a joy to know they are out there quietly doing their thing.

This year we hung ours in the magnolia tree near our front door - it feels so right, and we think we have found our new 'peace tree'.

I took some others to the studio and hung them there...

A selection of peace badges are also available to purchase over on our decklededgepress website. A few of them look like this:

We wish for peace; we seek peace; and we try to move through the world with peace. Go gently.