I have a final design! The Anou Cooperative has approved it and the weavers in Tighdouine will soon begin work.
I’ve decided to loosely base the design on Robert Frost’s poem, The Road Not Taken.
Like the poem, the design is not meant to depict big, life-changing decisions. Instead, it represents the small, everyday thoughts and choices that have pulled me in directions that are often only obvious when I look back at the path.
I’ve also layered in a quote that is meaningful to me. I’m an overthinker and I return to this quote often as a reminder to hold my thoughts loosely.
“Instead of working hard to try and figure out your purpose, I invite you to surrender to its unfolding. You don’t have to know it all today. You don’t have to marry yourself to an outcome. If you want to work on something, I invite you to work on noticing what lights you up and allow it to lead the way.” Mara Glatzel
Colours
The colours represent emotion, the gradient in the background depicting a journey of wisdom that gets stronger, lighter and more joyful as I age.
The yellow at each junction represents intuition and noticing, as Mara Glatzel describes.
The dark colours along the path represent times of struggle, specifically anxiety. I’ve learned to make friends with my anxiety – it’s a by-product of my very active imagination which I see as one of my strengths. It’s not an accident that the dark colours follow the bright ones. Joy and fear are intertwined and I embrace them both.
Green, not surprisingly, represents growth and life. I also deliberately chose green for the roads I didn’t take because there would have been life there, too. Just not, perhaps, as rich and textured as the path I’ve been on.
Symbols
I’ve also added four symbols to the tapestry. I assume that experts and scholars will be able to find fault with my choices, but I’m using them unapologetically.
The Ankh has a rich history of symbolism, beginning as an Egyptian hieroglyphic symbol for life or breath of life. It also has connections to Christianity and feminism, both important influences in my life.
The Uruz is a rune that symbolizes strength, vitality and energy.
Balance has always been very important to me. I strive to hold steady because I feel things so deeply. My sensitivity lends itself to understanding all views. I used to see that as a failure because I have a hard time fighting for causes that I hold dear. But I’ve come to understand that my role in this life is to understand and accept.
The Yaz is a Berber symbol meaning freedom. The tapestry will be woven by Amazigh (Berber ) women and I wanted them represented in the design.
I feel that I haven’t done justice to the explanation but, when I first started this project, I vowed to let my writing be imperfect. There is so much more in my mind, but for now, this will do.
If our paths have crossed, know that your threads are woven into the tapestry. So are my many experiences, joyful and not, as well as my ancestry, my faith and the many other elements that make me who I am.
When the women begin to weave this piece, they will send regular updates on their progress. I’m excited to see their interpretation of it take shape. I will write more soon.
The Road Not Taken
By Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.