earth family
an illustrated poem of interbeing & transformation
One day a beautiful blue ball of yarn rolls naturally into the galaxy…
And so, the journey of life begins. The yarn symbolizes the heartbeat that connects us all. It swiftly travels through time on Earth and draws our deep interconnectedness with everything. The yarn unravels and endlessly shape-shifts into flowers and trees and animals and… into humans as well. Following the line of life, we reach a tipping point, the recent pandemic. A shared chapter of sadness, desolation and separation but also an unexpected chance for human-heartfelt contemplation. With a new awareness, the humans realize that the only way forward is together. Inspired by unity, they take one big harmonious breath to flip the page into history. And that my dear, was the beginning of Earth Family.
Author Marisa Papen’s vision for Earth Family was born during the first months of the pandemic and lockdown. As the world closed, an opening & possibility for transformation revealed itself.
The first glimpse of inspiration was a simple line, a line that connects us all and draws our deep interconnectedness with everything. The line soon morphed into a thread, and then into Earth as a ball of yarn. With spontaneity, the story flowed effortlessly and soon we connected with our illustrator as well, Loutje Hoekstra, an Amsterdam based autodidact artist who is known for her surreal symphonic line work. Over the course of a year, we collaborated virtually via zoom and without deadlines or agenda the book naturally unfolded.
Earth Family expresses a hopeful future that inspires children & adults to see our current state of the world as an opportunity for a loving reconnection with ourselves, each other and our planet.