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| Wagner's self-portrait wraps around to the back for international endorsements. |
Through recounting her decade-long creation of Celebrating Our Maiden Migrations, an installation of two and three-dimensional artworks, LiDoña Wagner invites you to explore your own deep ancestry, migration as a timeless reality, and human impact on our amazing planet. The narrative of this beautiful art book opens with:
I am on a journey,
both excruciatingly solitary
and frighteningly communal,
traveling with our ancestors,
migrating from place to place.
...
Based on Wagner’s own DNA test and genetic research carried out by National Geographic’s Genographic Project, the text is structurally similar to the DNA helix itself. Two story lines curve and turn throughout the narrative: the artist’s personal ancestral journey via travel and art making and our common human journey out of Africa. The bridge between these collective and individual forays into the unknown is formed by stunning paintings, sculptures, poems, and photographs.
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| Each of five sections opens with a poem followed by one of LiDoña's Stone Age paintings. Bear Greats the Sun, LiDoña Wagner, Collection of Gail and Munir Katul. |
Side pages with history, anecdotes and personal reflections add depth and dimensionality. Artists will find the book’s photographs of the evolution of Wagner’s mixed-media acrylic paintings, multi-board configurations, and kinetic mobiles fascinating and instructive.
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| Photos from Wagner's exploration of her paternal ancestry in Sicily. |
For anyone who loves beauty and the creative process, has done ancestral research, occasionally thought of swabbing a cheek, or ever wondered, “Where do I come from?”.
Available at: lidonaw@gmail.com
Price is $39.95 plus shipping. Three or more copies for $38 each plus shipping. Receive in less than a week.
Available at: BookBaby https://store.bookbaby.com/
Price is $39.95 plus shipping. Through Print on Demand service you receive your book in two to three weeks.Endorsements
... A journey of the kind depicted in Seed of Imagination is what I wish for every woman who is caught in a web of weakness, paralysis, and immobility in order to move her to be care-filled and audacious about the choices she makes.
—Mary D’Souza, Founder and Director, Aditi Learning Centre, Maharashtra, India I’ve been deeply engaged with Wagner’s book ,,, the width and breadth of her mind and creative expression boggles me. I love how she allowed her process to guide the work. Her paintings are unusual and magnificent. The prose took me places I’ve never even thought to go. Now I want to swab my cheek and send in my DNA! I will return to this book again and again for inspiration.
—Skye Blaine, author of Bound to Love: a memoir of grit and gratitude and Unleashed
Transcending time and geography, Seed of Imagination is reflective of the necessity of courage in the essential art of living. An astonishing creation, this book is truly a legacy for all times.
—Sarah Buss, village development in Upper Egypt and author of Love Letters to a Mirage in the Desert and The Other Side of Midnight
Seed of Imagination shows how the human spirit and changing geography shaped our migration from Africa. The knowledge that we are children of an East African mother turns the myth of racial supremacy and communalism raging in Malaysia and around the world on its head. ...
—Dharmalingam Vinasithamby, freelance writer and public speaking coach, former editor for Asiaweek in Hong Kong and The Straits Times in Singapore
... The book motivated me to find ways that I might better tell the story of African resilience in communities everywhere.
—Terry Bergdall, PhD, author of Methods for Active Participation:
Experiences in Rural Development from East and Central Africa
At a time when our differences are a dividing force, Seed of Imagination is an insightful poetic narrative that invites us to discern deep-seated connections that have been submerged in a sea of unconsciousness. ... She weaves science, genealogy, her art and personal history into an exquisite tapestry of colorful connections that ignite a fiery celebration of our deep global roots. ...
—Eunice M. Shankland, training and facilitation consultant, Shankland & Associates LLC and UN Agencies
Tremendous and utterly unique! Seed of Imagination is a celebration of earthlings’ common ancestors and their ingenious migrations, resulting in the different cultures present today. If the people of Oceania could build outrigger canoes to carry entire communities across the ocean, what incredible journeys are possible for societies all over the world?!
—Aimee Hilliard, Executive Officer for Ecumenical Ventures: Chicago and Island Ventures: Philippines
