This grouping of pearls was created by participants in the original, three workshops. They were presented in the West Gallery at Cal State Northridge and later at the Laband Gallery at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles where the first edition of the Handbook For Living,  a handmade book by Abeles’ was shown (on pedestal).

Additional pearls workshops took place at shelters, universities, domestic violence conferences and in the AWBW studios in Venice.

Women, children, pre-teens, young adults, families and advocates, including both genders, shelter leaders and translators added their voice to this communal project.

Each unique in its symmetry yet connected one to another is a powerful metaphor for community.

“We are all responsible for the good of the community.
Neighbors should care for each other. 
Women should help each other 
and be welcoming to those who need our help.“

—Participant

Video and audio recording was a major part of the artmaking process in the workshops, often documented by the participants themselves. The videos show the many hands in motion, and every step to make the pearls. Each workshop involved learning to use plaster, pliers and rasps, and the process tapped into the potent vocabulary found when making sculpture.

Videos were presented in large-scale projections, embedded in the table and with small dvd players.

This sculptural table is based on the process to make the spherical pearls and the metaphor of “pearls” as treasures that form inside an oyster in response to an irritant.

Participants brought an object that symbolized their “irritant,” abuse or assault and then wrote about that experience on the mirrored surface of the mylar paper. To make the pearl, the “irritant” object(s) and written story were crumbled into a mass, wound with yarns, bandaged, plastered and then covered with pearlescent paints.

The irritant, the abuse, the assault slipped into my home, my soul. 

I could run or I could look to myself, my stronger core.  My story is worthwhile if it helps others avoid the traps and the violence. 

I”m not sure how my stories may end violence, but I am willing to speak and be part of the chorus that sings to the masses. 

I find a place for my story so that it does not became an impoverished chant, repeated over and over to silent ears. I will replace my pity, my role as victim with empowerment and guidance for all. 

Like a doctor treating bones, I will mend my breaks with laster and my scars will make me stronger. 

I share my words as I would with my younger self, if only someone had done this for me.  I am not looking for comfort, I am looking for action!

The diverse journal papers simulated the stages of making a spherical pearl  — mylar for reflection, bandage paper for wrapping, plaster-like paper to hold their story and parchment for the transparency of sharing their words of wisdom.

AWBW sent more than 600 pre-cast pearl discs and memento oyster journals to 70 shelters across the state. The journals stayed with the women, but the pearl discs, once transformed with paint, text and imagery and their accompanying words of wisdom were returned for inclusion in the  exhibition at the Korean Cultural Center.

“Take care of yourself and don’t expect someone else to do it.
Don’t think you need a man to complete you.”

—Participant

“You are only as sick as your secret and the shame of those secrets lives in the darkness.
Truth is light, healing and freedom from shame.”

—Participant

“Oh, they need another opportunity we think. There’s no opportunity.
You need to turn that corner and not look back.”

—Participant

“Real love can be felt in the heart.
It cannot be pounded into our bodies.”

—Participant

“If I had found someone who had told me [that], I might have made that decision way back when, and I wouldn’t have waited through 8 years of
suffering at the side of this violent man.”

—Participant

More than 300 of the 1,000 visitors to the exhibition including many children added their pearl of wisdom on parchment circles. Two small round tables, one for adults and for children, held simple writing materials with suggested questions. Children were asked: How will you show someone a kindness? Adults were asked: What advice would you share with another person to give them strength? It can be very practical things, a simple idea or something more philosophical.

A special version of the pearls project was created to give participating children a positive way to handle the violence they witnessed at home.

Each child or teen created a three-dimensional “fear monster” from clay, play-doh or paper that safely sits in clear, round forms to create another kind of “pearl necklace.”  Children’s Pearls are based on “The Monster in Me,” one of A Window Between Worlds many projects for transforming hurt to healing.

The Children’s Pearls were exhibited with slides showing their words of wisdom and advice.

“From the smallest seed in the deepest hole, you’ll bloom and be beautiful!”

More than 20 community leaders signed a pearl disc to add their voice to end violence.