There is a story to tell, but for now, i will let the images do the talking. Each builds into the previous, conceptually for ten years, and literally now for 13 weeks through the GAIA Journey. Continual unfolding, enfolding, unfolding. See a reflective video of the final evolution here.
Images from GAIA, last to first:
Images that informed the GAIA drawing, last to first:
Each year the Presencing Institute offers u.lab, a free, online-offline program through MITx. Launched in Sept and running through Dec, it’s a self-directed learning experience, punctuated by monthly live broadcasts where the community comes together. It’s also part of a wider-scale Societal Transformation Lab that you can read about here.
Find below the final scribed image from each live session, as well as key content overviews. Hope you find this gallery useful. Enjoy!
For all pictures on this page… please share as you’d like, respecting the creative commons information here and linking back to this page. Also please consider donating to the Presencing Institute, which would not exist without individual donations, grants, and program revenues.
Visual Reviews, using iPadPro with Procreate app, Photoshop, and a Bird font.
Danjoo Koorliny Walking Together Towards 2029: Voice, Treaty, Truth Summit
These images are from the 2019 Social Impact Festival Summit, hosted by the University of Western Australia, designed and led by Nyoongar/ Aboriginal leaders Dr. Noel Nannup, Dr. Richard Walley, Prof. Colleen Hayward and Carol Innes. The aspiration was to “explore positive change already under way in a number of social areas, co-discover the most important steps for moving forward, and co-create a 10-year plan with actions and outcomes for how we will walk together towards 2029 (the 200 year mark of colonization in Perth) and beyond.”
I was honored to be joined by Zoe Street and Brook Hill, two scribes just starting out, already making marks well beyond their years, evidence of their deep wisdom.
My main takeaway from the week: I have no doubt, none at all, that to rebalance planetary harmony—for species and nature that has existed thousands and thousands of years before human abuse of industry and capitalism—we need to bring forward and truly comprehend Aboriginal knowing. From my current, shallow exposure, i experience an unfathomable dimensionality that spans great stretches of time, considers sprit as governing law, and honors parts but never as separate from an inextricably, relationally connected whole. I thank organizers Katie Stubley and John Stubley, and the whole team at the Center for Social Impact for leading me to these insights and opening a door that i know will never close. It will ONLY be TOGETHER that we can heal.
Some learning opportunities come along in disguise – presenting themselves in one form, yet offering a whole other range of information in another. Such was the case when John Sterman, of the System Dynamics Group at MIT, reached out to work together on a timeline of the life and impact of Jay Wright Forrester. (Click on the image above to zoom in or download the printable file.)
At first, we talked about my redrawing a map that John, Nelson Repenning, and others had sketched on a very large dry-erase wall. It seemed fairly straightforward, and I thought the “job” would be a mere translation from one medium to another. The image would be presented at a symposium honoring Jay, where family, past collaborators, students, colleagues, and fans could see the range and extent of his work over time.
But as with any model, the more we saw, the more we saw! We ended up going through a few cycles of iteration to double check topics, links, and the people included. And even the current printed 4×8′ version seems like just a mark in time for an artifact that could be repeatedly updated as the boundary of the model – of the timeline – expands.
This leads to the real gift, beyond the creative act of figuring out how to cross as few lines as possible… which was receiving this highly unique window into the life of an extraordinary man – someone who, through invention and unending curiosity, set the course for entire, multiple fields, including Servomechanisms, Computing (including core memory!) and System Dynamics. His influence can probably be experienced by almost everyone on the planet in some way or another, across dozens of advances including: radar, computers, space exploration, the internet, Limits to Growth, climate policy, k-12 education, automated car technology, among much, much else. I know very little about the specifics – just enough to know that, though ripple effect, one life can make a tremendous difference for ALL life on this planet.
The stories shared at the symposium about Jay, and the numerous ways he profoundly influenced people’s lives, nourished a seed of determination in me to get up, stay open, work with rigor, share, and inquire.
We never really know what continues on after a death. Nature renews. People and their identities come and go. As a species, we evolve – albeit in jagged, sometimes accelerated, sometimes stalled advancement. Trial and error and continual learning, as Jay exemplified, all necessary undertakings to keep us forward-bound.
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Jay Forrester’s World Dynamics diagram of the WORLD1 model, 1970 – ResearchGate
Am happy, in these challenging times, to announce that registration for another visual practice workshop is officially OPEN. To sign up immediately, CLICK HERE. To learn more, keep reading.
It’s my strong belief that visuals serve as key facilitative aids for collective seeing and navigation. And as visual practitioners, we face a particular need and opportunity to expand the awareness, mindsets, and choices that feed our outward expression.
This latest program will push the boundaries of our current delivery model. Over three days – in a dedicated residence/retreat environment – we will combine theory, exercises, reflection, and peer learning to explore the following:
The immersive program is designed for intermediate and advanced visual practitioners who wish to strengthen and deepen their existing knowledge, towards developing mastery in the profession and field. While non-scribes facilitators are welcome, drawing will be the primary form of practice; be prepared to use this expression as the main means of application over the course of the program.
We’ll start getting to know each other over dinner on Tuesday, May 16th, and work at a sometimes intense and sometimes relaxed pace through Friday the 19th. The venue is well-known to me: Edith Macy Conference Center in Briarcliff, NY – a stone’s throw away from where I grew up in Croton-on-Hudson. It’s a particular joy to bring this activity back to the place that held my youthful, wooded wandering.
I won’t go into more details (you can find them here) – will just add some pics from the latest workshop in Bologna. Please email me with any questions. And please share this post freely with anyone who might be interested.
