Every year Ville la Grand holds the Foire au Bouilli and artists, young and old, participate in a themed art competition, organised by the Villamagna art gallery. This year the theme was “la mer” – the sea… so most of the art works this year were beautiful homages to the ocean. However, when I thought of the sea, I couldn’t disassociate it from the daily images of thousands of refugees desperately trying to get to safety across the water. In french, “la mer” is also a homonym for “la mère” – mother. This connection was very important to me and heightened the intensity of the creative experience as I made my Save Our Souls piece. I imagined a mother comforting her child, other children leaving their parents behind in a place of danger, another risking the crossing to rejoin a mother…These texts surround the three canvases that hang on the blue pallet:

Mer, prends soin de moi. (Sea, take care of me.)

Mère, prends soin de moi. (Mother, take care of me.)

Mer, prends soin de moi. (Sea, take care of me.)

Mer, prends soin de ma mère. (Sea, take care of my mother.)

Traverser la mer pour retrouver ma mère. (Cross the sea to find my mother.)

Traverser la mer pour retrouver mon père. (Cross the sea to find my father.)

Quitter ma mère pour traverser la mer. (Leave my mother to cross the sea.)

Mère, prends soin de toi. (Mother, take care of yourself.)

Mer, prends soin de ma mère et de moi. (Sea, take care of my mother and me.)

Mer, prends soin de moi. (Sea, take care of me.)

The following three are all lullabies – arabic, french and scottish:

Nami Nami de Marcel Khalife

نامي نامي يا صغيري
تانغفى عا لحاصيري
نامي عالعتيمي تا تنزاح الغيمي
ويصير عنا ضو كبير
يضوي عا كل الجيري
بكرة بيك جاي
حامل غلت الليمون
بيجبلك تنورة وشال
تاتدفي في كانون
يا زغطورة الحندقة
شعرك أسود ومنقى
واللي حبك بيبوسك
والبغضك شو بيترقى

Le Bateau Blanc de Sacha Distel

Viens je t’emmène sur l’océan
Viens je t’emmène au gré du vent
Vers la lumière du soleil levant
Viens je t’emmène sur mon bateau blanc
– La vie est belle profitons-en
Plus de querelles plus de tourment
A quoi ça sert de se tuer
Et de faire toutes ces guerres, de dévaster ?
– La vie est courte, profitons-en
Pour faire la route vers l’océan
Sans un détour sans hésiter
Et nous voguerons toujours vers l’amitié !
– La vie est douce, profitons-en
Le vent nous pousse dans les haubans
Prends-moi la main, prends moi le coeur,
Nous n’attendrons pas demain pour le bonheur !

Speed Bonnie Boat  Chanson folklorique écossaise

Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that’s born to be King
Over the sea to Skye.

Loud the winds howl, loud the waves roar,
Thunderclouds rend the air;
Baffled, our foes stand by the shore,
Follow they will not dare.

Though the waves leap, soft shall ye sleep,
Ocean’s a royal bed.
Rocked in the deep, Flora will keep
Watch by your weary head

Carry Me Safely Across the Sea

من فضلك الله حمل لي بأمان عبر البحر (Arabic)

Tafadhali , mungu , unichukue salama katika bahari (Swahili)

Please, God, carry me safely across the sea. (Anglais)