Listening (and Talking) to the Wind

In the pre-cellphone era, phonebooths were often suffused with drama. If you were out of luck and far from home, you prayed your dime would summon the phone to life and – perhaps – even connect you with a friend or a family member. In film and on television, spies or those in imminent danger went through the ritual of inserting money and frantically dialing numbers as the audience held its breath.

And, of course, who can forget Superman’s legendary sartorial sorties – entering the phone booth as the mild-mannered Clark Kent in a suit and tie, and emerging moments later as a chiseled Olympian complete with a flowing cape.

Though phone booths have gone the way of the dodo, local artist Amy Adams is hoping to recreate a positive experience built around a “phone”– or at least a representation of a phone – as an invitation to touch and handle difficult feelings, especially those around loss. It is a concept called a Wind Phone that originated in Japan, and they have been replicated in many places, including in Natick, where a new Wind Phone installation created by Adams will be formally dedicated this coming Sunday, July 27 at noon at the Common Street Spiritual Center.

According to Adams, a man in Japan crafted the first Wind Phone as a tool to help grieve the loss of his cousin. Thousands eventually visited the site after the huge Tsunami of 2011, which led to nearly 20,000 deaths. And the idea took hold globally.

Adams describes the concept as follows:

Wind Phone is:

Is a disconnected telephone

With the purpose to speak to loved ones who have passed on,

Allowing messages to be “carried by the wind”.

It is a symbolic way to share memories, and hold space

so that healing can begin.

Support contacts are located inside of the space.

Adams is also trying to build support for a Wind Phone in Franklin.

“I started a project proposal titled "Healing with HeART", a project that would include raising awareness and understanding around the topic of grief and support,” Adams explained. Natick was receptive and approved it. That project involved a community workshop with rock painting and discussion about the project. Amy visited the location it would be housed a few times to share information and the plan along with online communication with the public about it. “The community has been excited and is looking forward to it,” she added.

“I have also been sharing this project progress on my media pages and with Franklin and there is interest in our community,” Adams added, though nothing actionable yet.

She can be contacted through her website www.PaintingVenus.Art or via email PaintingVenus1@gmail.com