Land and Place

leaves, toothpicks, oil, cotton

This is the main video:

Some pictures of the diyas before they were put in the water:

Process:

In order to release these in the water, I went through an entire building and testing process (I detailed that in my previous post for this project). A few days before formally releasing them, I tested 2 out on the lake, and observed if there were any issues. The only problems I saw were that the wicks fell and burned through the lantern and the lanterns would not move along in the water. The wick issue was solved by gluing them down in the lantern, and the movement issue was solved by creating a current in the water with my hand or a paddle when putting them in. I also saw that the lanterns did better when released on the dock compared to the previous location I chose as the previous location had many sticks and lilies blocking the path of the lanterns. I decided to release them on the dock on Peddie lake. I first laid out all of the lanterns (diyas), and then spooned in oil onto the wicks.

After setting up the lanterns, I laid them out on the dock and lit them on fire with a lighter.

  

I then released them into the water. I found that using your hands to create a current helped move the diyas into the center of the lake.

Here is a video of me releasing the first one:

I then sat and watched as the lanterns made their way to the center. Looking back at the pictures, they don't come nearly as close to what it looked like in-person. The lights created this sense of warmth and it gave you awareness of what was around you. The multitude of lanterns gave a sense of community and combated the loneliness we are feeling as we are quarantined. As I lit and set free the lanterns, I noticed how I could not see anything without them. It made me think of how lost we are without others around us and also how important small things like light and warmth are in our lives.