Bealtaine

The beginning of summer

Bealtaine is a May 1st celebration that welcomes the bright half of the year and is an opportunity to contemplate on the early buds of spring that will soon turn into full blossoms. For this gathering, a group of Detroit dancers engaged with Billy Mark’s African Rhythms Soundmap in Voigt Park. As the dancers moved throughout the park, the soundmap was activated into various rhythmic compositions.

The ‘Bealtaine Collection’ is 1 part of a 7 part collection of fiber art clothing pieces exploring themes of circular fashion and a circular sense of time using the ancient ‘Celtic Wheel Of The Year’ calendar to ground on the land we inhabit in Detroit.  The larger project is called ‘All Creatures Here Below’ and has 55 outfits, all made from landfill rescue items. This project aims to challenge preconceived notions of what is ‘in fashion’ and instead present a futuristic, dream-like vision of tribes of people who make their clothing using the materials they have at hand, in a way that considers people, the planet, and the power of self-expression.