WELCOME
You are at the threshold of a living system known as the Kinship Flag project.
Our goal? Simply to create a space to celebrate all the creatures and stories of our incredible Universe.
Kinship flags grew out of joy and ease – the joy of cutting holes in paper to create stencils, and the ease of silk screening on found fabric.
Come in, come explore some of the intricate images which fly as flags all over the world – from Hawai’i to Finland, in quiet rooms and wild forests, with hope and love, and grief and resistance. Come! We’ve been waiting for you!
Kinship Flag Project and PrayerStream
Flags + community space + people = a beckoning
Just as collective names enchant and invite us in… a harem of seals, a charm of hummingbirds, a convocation of eagles, so we have… a beckoning of flags.
Kinship Flag Project is a community flag-making practice. We host stencil-making and silk-screening workshops which support and encourage folks to express themselves through shape, form, and colour.
Kinship Flags is also the home of PrayerStream, a rolling collection of thousands of feet of flags with images of creatures and beings of the earth, sacred to those who made them. The PrayerStream installation gets hung at festivals, youth camps, ceremonies, workshops, truth and reconciliation gatherings, land protection actions, birthday parties, mall events, and sometimes just because.
And, we sell flags so you can create a beckoning of your own.
A practice of awe and reverence ~ a project of and for peace ~ an unfurling of beauty.
Our goal is to make every image in the world. While we know this is an impossible task, we feel this is a good place to be.
It is about making sacred space and defining space. It’s a meditation. It’s play. It is activism. It’s a celebration. An act of gratitude. It is an amplification project, amplifying belonging, creative expression, life, and shared experience. It’s our way of expressing love for this creative event called living, this intricate weave of relationships which span time and space – it is story and reciprocity, intention and prayer, gentle encouragement and fierce challenge.
In the flag studio we say…
“Through our process of creation, we celebrate the process of creation.”
There is a beckoning for you to create your own sacred image ... Will you join us?
MADE BY HANDS
Ever notice how good it feels to make something with your hands? Every single Kinship flag is made by hands, many hands working together to bring to life an image with power. A stencil with a story!
PRAYER STREAM
From schlepping to morphic fields – suitcases carried and opened, unfurled flags, lifted ladders, strands hung from hoops and cedars… a sacred space revealed. When we choose to gather, gatherings become villages, and the long roads travelled are honoured in the metaphysical magic of ritual and intention.
KINSHIP FLAG PROJECT
THE UNFURLING
“We didn’t start off with an intention to make PrayerStream flags per se. There was an intention to create all the things they hold. In the beginning, we followed the threads of community, conviviality, storytelling, mentorship… the impulse to create, the urge to gather folks and make things, and in time, we followed the small voice of the flags…
After these threads became woven together, it was easy to follow them back to their beginnings, and to recognize the measured course which had been taken over years and through gatherings, to arrive at something complete and fresh – the Kinship flag project.
Which, of course, is only another beginning.” ~ hbk
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The first Seeds on the Journey
2010 June
3rd Spirit Matters
Making of the very first 2 strands of flags by youth. Youth and Elders three day gathering at U of T hosted by Transformative Learning Centre, Sketch, etc.
2013 November
Momentum
Making and hanging of the collection of flags
2013 December
Whispering Flags
Gestation of Concept
2014 November
Shamadi Tea House Art Show HoC Created
First appearance of Hearts of Courage; Hazel sells nearly all her paintings