For years, Best Friends co-founder and resident artist Cyrus Mejia has been promoting The Kindness Revolution, a universal collaboration encouraging humans to take responsibility to live their lives by the Golden Rule as it applies to not just themselves, but to animals, the earth and other people. Recently Mejia created an art project to record the efforts of people around the country — and across the globe — taking an active role in the Kindness Revolution. Mejia has created The Watcher.
Part animal, part human, part modern day mythology, The Watcher is a creature that encompasses positive life force, compassion, integrity and patience. Odd that such an ethereal concept would in part arise from the participation in the technological realm of social networking practices, such as Twitter and Facebook. Odd until you understand through Mejia’s own words, just what The Watcher is all about. On his blog, Cyrus explains: “The Watcher is alive, or at least is a life force of some kind. …Watchers are like angels, they watch over the earth, the animals and life in general. They’re not here to interfere, only to watch and observe.”
Mejia goes on to explain exactly what kinds of activities The Watcher might document, activities like animal adoption events, peaceful protests in the name of animal welfare or social justice, even the simple act of a person petting a cat or a dog would all be of interest to The Watcher.
These random and not-so-random acts of kindness go on every day all over the world. What better way to track these happenings than through cyberspace? For Mejia, digital photos, e-mail and all things internet seemed like the perfect vehicle to promote and keep tabs on The Kindness Revolution.
“I believe there is more good than evil happening in the world, it just never makes it to the news,” says Mejia. “The Watcher Project is my way of calling attention to, and documenting, the good that is The Kindness Revolution.”
The Watcher is also an interactive art project, one which Mejia hopes will inspire the participation of everyone reading this story. He makes it pretty easy for people to contribute to this undertaking, even for those of us who flunked stick-figure drawing in kindergarten.
Detailed step-by-step directions on how to access The Watcher may be found here, but here’s the basic idea: Simply download The Watcher image from the website and print it out on photo paper. Cut out the image and glue it onto a stick — Mejia says a ruler works well.
Then you’re ready to record images of the Kindness Revolution. Simply take The Watcher and a camera (the cameras on cell phones work just fine) to an adoption event, fundraiser or dog park and snap a photo of The Watcher witnessing a cat going home with his new adopted family, a large check being presented to a worthy animal welfare organization or a happy dog running around the beach with a ball in his mouth. And then e-mail the image to Mejia using the special e-mail address on the site. Once he has received enough images of The Watcher witnessing The Kindness Revolution, Mejia will have an exhibition of his Watcher paintings along with all the uploaded photos.
Anne Zinck from California is one of the first participants in The Watcher Project. She sent in a photo of The Watcher observing Nan, one of her friends feeding two feral cats on a levee.
Anne first learned about The Watcher when she attended Mejia’s “Art for the Animals: Artist’s Retreat” workshop this summer. When Mejia explained he was looking for likeminded people to help him chronicle The Kindness Revolution, she knew she’d participate. And she’d participate more than once.
It’s an easy thing to sign on for,” says Zinck. “And I hope I can get that across to others. One of the things I’m planning on doing is sending out an e-mail to my friends that work with a local cat rescue and try to get them involved. I really want to be a part of making it successful, and I know people who are doing wonderful things in the community who I think would jump at the opportunity to contribute to this project.” Mejia has actually become somewhat famous for his “audience participation” works of art. “The 575 Project,” an art installation calling attention to the sobering statistic that 575 animals are killed in U.S. shelters every hour, includes a performance piece of art-lovers lighting and then blowing out 575 candles made from empty cat food cans. “Ark,” a boat he constructed to honor volunteers participating in the animal rescue efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, is part collage of intake forms of rescued animals as well as photos and memorabilia collected from animal rescue volunteers.
“I believe The Kindness Revolution is a worldwide call for compassion, kindness and social justice,” says Mejia. “I hope The Watcher Project will give people a glimpse of the ‘bigger picture;’ realizing that every small act of kindness is a world-changing event!”
To participate in The Watcher Project, visit www.thewatcherproject.com.
Written by Amy Abern
Photos courtesy of Cyrus Mejia
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