The Butterfly Effect, 2019
Found materials, pen and ink, gold stitching, photo-copy transfer text
12 x 4 x 4 inches
Unique Edition
With The Butterfly Effect, I used items from my own “future plunder books box”. Every material is at least 50 years old: Kelsey printing company paper samples, an old sewing machine drawer, silly butterfly ornaments, golden thread from my grandmother’s stash. The text came from my writing from this past year. They are questions I am asking of myself and my country during these turbulent times. Do my actions actually make a difference? Whatever it is, I must Go where the FEAR takes me.
![](https://melaniemowinski.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Butterfly_Image1_.jpg)
These are the questions included in the book.
- I don’t know what to do with anger.
- Does talking about it or rehashing it give it power or help alleviate it?
- How do we get to a place in America where all sides want and actively pursue healing?
- How does the light heal?
- What is missing?
- Who is not represented?
- Who do you make space for things that do not exist?
- If we practice self-compassion regularly do we heal the internal wounds that lead to lashing out at others?
- How do we get beyond labels? Is this a statement that comes from a place of privilege?
- Where do I draw lines?
- Do I disown my family because they continue to support and thrive at/in the Catholic Church?
- Do I shame myself for my own internal devotion to the Catholic Church?
- Where do we draw lines?
- What are my actions going forward?
- Can I be in a place of contradiction and not be ostracized?
- How do you honor what seems right and true when doctrine or institutional practices are in contrast to that?
- How do I fix this?
- How do I become more?
![](https://melaniemowinski.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Butterfly_Image2-scaled.jpg)
![](https://melaniemowinski.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Butterfly_Image2-scaled.jpg)